Shailene Woodley gives heartfelt shoutout to mother as she wins first-ever Emmy

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Shailene Woodley gave a shoutout to her mom, Lori Woodley, while accepting her first Emmy Award for her role as Annie Clay in Season 2 of Dan Fogelman’s post-apocalyptic series 'Paradise.'

Woodley won Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series during Night 2 of the 2026 Emmy Awards for her tragic character arc as Annie, whose conclusion marked one of the most heart-wrenching episodes of television in a long time.

Shailene Woodley celebrates first Emmy win with mom

Accepting the award on stage, Woodley said, ““Mom, this is so cool,” before describing herself as lucky to be part of storytelling and the Emmys.

Backstage, she discussed the qualities she admired in Annie and those she would carry with her after portraying the character.

“Annie is very calculated, and she’s very patient in her decisions, and that’s something that I have learned from and something that I’ve definitely take with me as I’ve moved forward away from her,” Woodley said.

She also highlighted Annie’s resiliency, describing it as something that comes from an internal place rather than a need for external gratification.

“I also really admire her resiliency, and that her resiliency comes from an internal place, not from a place of needing gratification, from an external perspective, and I think that’s a very rare and beautiful quality to have as a person,” she said.

Woodley also spoke about winning the series’ first Emmy, saying, “I just feel very excited to be on board their bigger mission and to have my little slice of the pie and contribute what I was able to contribute.”

This was Woodley’s second Emmy nomination.

She previously received a nomination in 2017 for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for HBO’s 'Big Little Lies.'

This year, 'Paradise' earned seven Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series, up from four nominations for its first season.

Shailene Woodley reveals how she learned about Emmy nomination

In the Guest Actress in a Drama Series category, Woodley competed against Brittany Allen, Tal Anderson, and Tina Ivlev from 'The Pitt,' Miriam Shor from 'Prilubus,' and Merritt Wever from 'The Gilded Age.'

Woodley’s Emmy nomination was announced on Wednesday, July 8, while she was spending time with two friends.

One friend was getting her lashes lifted, and Woodley agreed to try it after being told the process would take 20 minutes.

Instead, she ended up on a bed with her eyes closed for an hour and a half. During that time, another friend told her, “Your phone is blowing up.” Woodley then discovered the Emmy nomination with her eyes shut and had a blind FaceTime with friends.

She described receiving her second nomination, 10 years after her first, saying, “I love what I do so much, and not that awards are the reason for what I do, but I don’t know how I couldn’t feel like a little girl in this moment, I grew up watching the Emmys, and it’s just really exciting and an honor to be included.”

Looking ahead to Season 3, Woodley said she was “excited” to see what happens next. However, she has no idea what will happen and does not want to know, saying she is “on the edge of my seat like being a fan of the show.”