“The Penguin” was supposed to be a TV spinoff about Oswald “Oz” Cobb, the grimacing gangster from “The Batman.”
But when Cristin Milioti stepped on the scene, it quickly became apparent that Sofia Falcone had also taken charge.
The New Jersey actor delivers a commanding and compelling performance as the spurned Gotham City Mafia daughter opposite Colin Farrell’s boss on the rise.
Incriminated and thrown in Arkham State Hospital, Falcone emerges from confinement and undergoes a transformation that sees Oz become her partner and rival in the HBO series.
“They actually are so kindred,” Milioti told NJ Advance Media before the show’s September 2024 premiere. “They’re completely overlooked and disregarded and stepped on, and they are so smart.”
Now Milioti, who grew up in Cherry Hill, has won her first Emmy for her performance in “The Penguin.”
She wins the Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a limited series, anthology or movie.
“I am so profoundly grateful,“ Milioti, 40, said at Sunday’s Emmys ceremony before reading off prepared notes (see video below).
READ MORE: Is HBO’s ‘The Penguin’ the ‘Sopranos’ of Gotham? N.J.’s Cristin Milioti on the icy hot drama.
“I’m so sorry, I wrote this on the back of notes I took in therapy the other day,” the actor said as she shed happy tears. “So don’t look at the back.”
“I loved making this show and I loved playing Sofia so much,” Milioti continued. “It’s very hard to make sense of being alive right now in this world, and so I’m deeply grateful for the bright spots and making this show with our incredible cast and incredible crew and getting to inhabit this woman was a bright spot for me, despite it being, like, very grisly. Playing her felt like flying.”
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Milioti, who wore a rich red Danielle Frankel gown befitting Falcone’s intensity, thanked her family in the audience.
“Thank you for supporting your strange kid and showing me movies that were very inappropriate for my age. I wanna thank you, I wanna thank my friends, I have the best friends in the world,” she said, her voice cracking. “You’re the reason that I’m standing, you’re the whole reason that I’ve gotten through life.”
“I wanna thank (”Penguin” showrunner) Lauren LeFranc, whose brain I wanna freebase,” Milioti continued. “She’s the reason our show is so special.”
She also thanked Farrell and Deirdre O’Connell, who plays Oz’s mother, Francis Cobb, in the series.
She went on to name-check various entities — people at HBO and DC among them — before signing off with a jubilant exclamation.
“I love you and I love acting so much!” she said, raising her fist skyward and leaving the stage with an unrestrained “woooo!”
“The way this character is written, there’s so much to explore … so many different versions of her, and I also found her story to be outrageously compelling,” Milioti told NJ Advance Media. “How rare that you are given the time to show how someone becomes a villain. You get to see her go mad, and that’s just, like, the biggest dream as an actor.”
Early in her career, Milioti played another Mafia daughter — Catherine Sacrimoni, daughter of John “Johnny Sack” Sacrimoni in “The Sopranos.”
In February, she won a Critics Choice Award for her performance in “The Penguin.”
“The Penguin” was also nominated for the Emmy outstanding limited series and Farrell was nominated for outstanding lead actor in a limited series.
The actor’s remarkable transformation into Oz, with the help of prosthetic makeup, was also recognized at the Creative Arts Emmys.
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Englewood’s Mike Marino is among the show’s winners for outstanding prosthetic makeup,
“The Penguin” also won Emmys for contemporary makeup, contemporary hairstyling and contemporary costumes as well as sound mixing, sound editing and special visual effects.
O’Connell was also nominated for supporting actress in a limited/anthology series or movie.
“The Penguin” showrunner Lauren LeFranc was nominated for writing for a limited series and both Helen Shaver and Jennifer Getzinger were nominated for directing for a limited/anthology series/movie.
Series composer Mick Giacchino, son of Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino (“Up,” “Inside Out”), who grew up in Edgewater Park, won the Emmy for outstanding music composition for a limited or anthology series, movie or special.
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