Emmys 2025: Can Harrison Ford Overtake Ike Barinholtz for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy?

The Emmy award in the category of Best Supporting Actor – Comedy may well be Ike Barinholtz’s to lose. Apple’s The Studio received 23 Emmy nominations, a record for a first-season comedy series. As Sal Sapperstein, the overcaffeinated, high-anxiety Hollywood executive, Barinholtz has been consistently singled out by critics and viewers of The Studio as a favorite performer, even before the show received its onslaught of Emmy nods. Barinholtz gives the type of flashy, rapid-fire comedic performance that Academy voters often take a shine to. However, if there’s a sleeper in the field, it may be the “old Hollywood” veteran in the group that gives Barinholtz a run for his Emmy.

While no one should count out Ebon Moss-Bachrach (the reigning award winner in this category) for his stellar work as “Richie” in The Bear, some of the luster (undeservedly) came off of the Chicago-based restaurant series that really isn’t a comedy anyway (an argument for another time) during season three. The Bear was rapturously received during its first two seasons, but many critics (and some watchers) found the show’s third season to be too arty and navel-gazing. 

The other actors in the category (Colman Domingo for The Four Seasons, Jeff Hiller for Somebody Somewhere, Bowen Yang for SNL, and Michael Urie for Shrinking) are all likely to fall into the category of “happy just to be nominated.” That leaves one contender that could potentially slow The Studio’s roll: Harrison Ford as Paul, the veteran therapist facing Parkinson’s Disease on another Apple TV comedy, Shrinking. It may come as a surprise to some that Ford has never won a single major acting award. In fact, despite being one of Hollywood’s greatest and most venerable stars, Ford has only been nominated for one Oscar (for Witness) and now one Emmy in his storied career. One could argue that Ford’s chops have been taken for granted despite all of his extraordinary box office success and fan affection. Of course, being a blockbuster-driven actor will hurt your chances at awards, and Ford has definitely been drawn to big-budget action films and franchises.

Additionally, some of the roles that Ford has turned down over the years were in films that would have likely put him in the Oscar conversation. Ford was the first choice to play Jim Garrison (a role that went to Kevin Costner) in Oliver Stone’s JFK, and also turned down the part of the judge in Traffic (Michael Douglas stepped in), and George Clooney’s CIA agent in Syriana. Harrison Ford has been painfully risk-averse since becoming a major draw at the turnstiles – far too often landing in roles that required him to be stoic, stolid, and conventionally heroic (see Air Force One and the Tom Clancy films). 

Aside from his good looks and economic acting style, one of the major attributes that Ford has often overlooked over his last four decades as an actor is his facility for comedy. When Ford rocketed to stardom in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, it wasn’t just his flintiness or handsomeness that won audiences over; it was that twinkle in his eye, that hint of mischief in his demeanor that made him a beloved actor. While the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films can rightly be described as adventure flicks, Ford’s line readings in those career-making movies were often wonderfully devilish and sarcastic. 

One of my favorite performances of Ford’s came in Mike Nichols’ Working Girl, way back in 1986, where the action star stepped outside of his typical heroism (that would become all too typical and bland over the latter portion of his career), and indulged in his inner comedic gifts as would be dealmaker Jack Trainer, a mergers and acquisitions associate, who pairs with Melanie Griffith’s secretary Tess McGill on a big business deal. Ford is remarkably delightful in the film, mixing anxious desire (of both the business and romantic kind) with that wonderful access to agita that he has always come by naturally. 

That’s not to say that Ford’s performance in Shrinking apes his work in Working Girl, but not since that film has Ford so flexed his comedic muscles as he does across from Jason Segel, Wendie Malick, and the other cast members of Apple’s best comedy – a show way better than The Studio. Ford has always been great when playing a bit of a crank, and Paul is one hell of a curmudgeon. Yet, underneath that gruff exterior, Ford gives his ailing shrink a great measure of vulnerability as he faces down his Parkinson’s and does so with the occasional glimmer in his eye, and a knowing smirk that makes his performance in Shrinking near revelatory. It’s not that Ford wasn’t capable of such; it’s just that we hadn’t seen a turn like this from him in so long that we simply forgot. 

For nearly fifty years, Harrison Ford has been the quintessential movie star. Who knew it would be on the small screen where he would find one of his finest roles? But that’s precisely what happens on Shrinking. It may be strange to think of Ford as an underdog, but he certainly has been when it comes to winning awards or even being nominated. Were I a betting person, I would not lay great odds on Ford overtaking Barinholtz — the actor and The Studio have significant momentum going into the opening of the envelope this September. But if you wanted to take the long odds, Ford would be the actor to place your money on for an upset. What’s surprising is that the 83-year-old Ford would be so deserving for reasons far beyond the sentimental.