HBO's "Game of Thrones" on Sunday won an Emmy for best drama series. The show also won the best drama award last year.
Rami Malek took home his first Emmy for best actor in a drama series "Mr. Robot" while Tatiana Maslany won best actress in a drama series award for "Orphan Black."
Ben Mendelsohn won for best drama supporting actor for his "Bloodline" role, while Maggie Smith won for the best drama supporting actress Emmy Award for her role on "Downton Abbey."
It is Smith's fourth Emmy win and her third for playing the Dowager Countess of Grantham on the series, which aired for six seasons on PBS.
[NATL] Emmy Awards 2016 Red Carpet: Best and Worst Dressed
Julia Louis-Dreyfus of "Veep" received a record-breaking sixth Emmy Award as best comedy series actress, using her victory to take a dig at GOP contender Donald Trump in a ceremony loaded with election-year asides.
"Veep" also won the Emmy Award for best comedy series.
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It is a repeat win for the HBO series, which stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a fictional U.S. politician who ascends to the presidency.
Jeffrey Tambor captured his second consecutive best comedy actor trophy for "Transparent," in which he plays a transgender character.
He called for Hollywood to make him the last non-transgender actor to get such a role.
A shaking Louis-Dreyfus ended her speech by dedicating the trophy to her father, who she said died Friday. Before that, she honed in on GOP contender Donald Trump's campaign.
"I'd also like to take this opportunity to personally apologize for the current political climate," she said. "I think that 'Veep' has torn down the wall between comedy and politics. Our show started out as a political satire but it now feels more like a sobering documentary."
She promised to "rebuild that wall and make Mexico pay for it."
Her victory gave her six best comedy wins — five for "Veep," one for "The New Adventures of Old Christine" — and broke her tie with Candice Bergen and Mary Tyler Moore.
[NATL] Emmy Awards 2016: Best Moments
Sarah Paulson won the Emmy Award for best actress in a limited series for her role in "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story."
It was Paulson's first Emmy win and came for her portrayal of prosecutor Marcia Clark, who endured widespread criticism as she tried to convict NFL legend O.J. Simpson of double murder under the glaring spotlight of the so-called "Trial of the Century."
Paulson's co-star Sterling K. Brown, who played prosecutor Christopher Darden in the series, won the best supporting actor award and she thanked him in her acceptance speech.
Paulson also thanked Clark, who she brought to the Emmys, and apologized to her for having a two-dimensional view of the prosecutor before signing on to play her onscreen.
Louie Anderson was honored as best supporting actor in a comedy series for his portrayal of a loving but tough mom in "Baskets."
"Mom, we did it!," Anderson shouted, hoisting his trophy and dedicating the award to his late mother, Ora Zella Anderson. "I have not always been a good man but I play one hell of a woman."
"Saturday Night Live" cast member Kate McKinnon won the trophy for best supporting actress in a comedy for, officially, playing various characters. But she knew who to credit.
"Thank you, Ellen DeGeneres, thank you, Hillary Clinton," she said, naming two of the famous people she's caricatured on the show.
The ceremony started out with an political edge. In a video bit, Jimmy Kimmel was shown trying to get to the ceremony and encountering former GOP presidential contender Jeb Bush as a limo driver.
"Did you know you could make $12 an hour working for Uber?" a game Bush said, smiling. He advised Kimmel that "if you run a positive campaign, the voters will ultimately make the right choice"— then told Kimmel curtly it was a joke.
On the red carpet, Judith Light was being fully transparent when she told bleacher fans how difficult it is to walk a red carpet in heels.
"I can't walk, but thanks," the actress, nominated for her role in a comedy series for Amazon's "Transparent," said as she responded to shouts and cheers from fans in the red-carpet bleachers.
Jeffrey Tambor, who plays her transgender ex-spouse and is vying to repeat as best comedy actor, shared serious words about the series.
It's "changing the landscape of television. I think it's changing the landscape, period," he said.
If the stars looked especially hot this year, the mercury was involved: Temperatures were in the 90s. Fans who waited hours for celebrities to arrive had the worst of it, with one women requiring treatment by paramedics.
For this year's awards, Golden Globe-winning "Mr. Robot," a conspiracy thriller about a troubled hacker, is vying for the top drama series award and best actor honors for star Rami Malek.
Biting political satire "Veep" is seeking its second consecutive best comedy series award, and bleak political drama "House of Cards" is looking for its first major win, as are its stars, Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright.
A sitcom that has aggressively taken on issues including use of the "N-word" and police brutality, "black-ish" is up against "Veep" for top comedy honors in a field that also includes "Master of None," ''Modern Family," ''Silicon Valley," ''Transparent" and "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt."
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