Julie Andrews won her second consecutive Emmy Award for voicing Lady Whistledown in Netflix’s “Bridgerton,” a victory that arrives just weeks after the 90-year-old actress confirmed she has stepped away from on-screen acting for good.
Andrews won Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance at the 2026 Creative Arts Emmys, held Sunday, Sept. 6, at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles, according to Yahoo Entertainment. She was not in attendance, and presenter Eric Bauza accepted the honor on her behalf. The win follows her first victory in the category last year, after three prior nominations for the role dating back to 2021, and marks her fourth Emmy overall and her first since 2005, according to the Television Academy. At 90, Andrews now holds the record as the oldest woman ever to win a Primetime Emmy, according to Gold Derby, extending the mark she set with last year’s win.
The award comes roughly three weeks after Andrews confirmed in separate interviews with The Hollywood Reporter and InStyle that she considers herself retired from on-screen acting. Discussing her decision not to reprise her role as Queen Clarisse Renaldi in the upcoming “The Princess Diaries 3,” Andrews said she had been asked repeatedly over the past year to return but ultimately declined, explaining that she felt the film would do well without “Granny going in there” at her age. In a separate conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, she said she considers herself largely past on-camera work, though not completely retired, noting that she remains active writing books and recording podcasts and voiceovers.
Andrews’ Whistledown narration has remained the exception to that retirement, and by her own account requires no in-person collaboration with the “Bridgerton” cast or crew — she has said in past interviews that she records her lines separately and has never met the ensemble in person. She was up against a category that included Pamela Adlon, among other veteran voice performers, for this year’s award.
Andrews’ name also became the subject of a false death rumor in late August, after a hoax report claiming she had died circulated on social media; the claim was debunked within days, and Andrews’ Emmy win this week further confirms the report was inaccurate.
Andrews’ documentary, an upcoming Disney+ feature directed by R.J. Cutler chronicling her career from British vaudeville to Hollywood stardom, is slated to premiere in 2027.