Emmys 2025: Tramell Tillman’s supporting drama actor win for Severance marks historic first

Tramell Tillman made history at the 77th Primetime Emmys 2025 on September 14, 2025, when he became the first Black man to win Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series at the Emmy Awards 2025.

The 40-year-old actor was honored for his role in Apple TV+’s Severance in which he plays Seth Milchick, a performance that has grown in importance since the series premiered in 2022. His win came in a crowded category that included his own co-stars Zach Cherry and John Turturro, as well as James Marsden (Paradise) and The White Lotus actors Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, and Sam Rockwell.

On stage at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, Tillman delivered an emotional speech that began with a quote from his mother, who he credited as his first acting coach. He thanked her for guiding him and dedicated the award to her memory. His mother, watching tearfully from the audience, became one of the night’s most memorable moments.

The victory also closed a gap in Emmy history, as the supporting drama actor category had never recognized a Black performer in its 55 years and for Apple TV+'s Severance, the award added to an already strong night, with co-star Britt Lower winning lead actress and Jessica Lee Gagné recognized for cinematography.

How Severance elevated Tramell Tillman to award-winning status in Emmys 2025?

Tramell Tillman’s win is significant not only for breaking a barrier in Emmys 2025 but also for the path he took to get there. Born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Largo, Maryland, Tillman originally planned a very different career. After graduating from Eleanor Roosevelt High School in 2003, he entered Xavier University of Louisiana as a pre-med student with hopes of becoming an orthopedic surgeon.

Hurricane Katrina forced him to transfer to Jackson State University, where he changed course and graduated summa cum laude in mass communications in 2008 and he later earned a Master of Fine Arts in acting from the University of Tennessee in 2014, becoming the first African-American man to do so.

Before acting full-time, Tillman spent more than a decade working in the nonprofit sector and in corporate settings. Those experiences directly informed his portrayal of Seth Milchick in Severance.

He has said that Milchick is built from “an amalgamation of colleagues, of former bosses, [and] of caricatures of people” he encountered in offices. That real-world perspective shaped Milchick into one of the show’s most unpredictable figures, equal parts cheerful enforcer and unsettling presence on the severed floor.

The Emmys 2025 award also reflects Severance’s rise as one of Apple TV+’s most acclaimed dramas. While Tillman did not receive recognition for the first season in 2022, the show’s second season expanded Milchick’s role and gave him more complex material. His combination of comedy, menace, and loyalty to corporate authority stood out in a year when the series picked up 27 nominations across categories.

In interviews before the ceremony, Tillman spoke about the importance of meaningful roles, particularly in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, and questioned whether diversity efforts in film and television were motivated by genuine inclusion or public pressure.

Winning in a category that had excluded Black men for over five decades gave his words extra weight. The supporting drama actor category, established in 1970, had produced 23 nominations for Black actors but never a winner until now.

Looking ahead, Tillman’s profile is only set to grow. Alongside his return for Severance season 3, he has upcoming roles in Lena Dunham’s Good Sex and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day. His Emmys 2025 win confirms that his career, once aimed at medicine, has become one of television’s most impactful stories.

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