Black Reel Award for Outstanding Actress, Drama Series

This article lists the winners and nominees for the Black Reel Award for Television for Outstanding Actress, Drama Series. This category was first introduced in 2017 and won by Rutina Wesley for Queen Sugar. Wesley currently holds the record for most wins with 3 and is currently tied with Dawn-Lyen Gardner for nominations in this category with 4 nominations.

Black Reel Award for Outstanding Actress, Drama Series
Awarded for	Outstanding Actress, Drama Series
Country	United States
Presented by	Black Reel Awards for Television
First award	2017
Currently held by	Zendaya, Euphoria (2022)
Website	blackreelawards.com

Winners and nominees

Winners are listed first and highlighted in bold.

2010s

Year	Actress	Series	Network	Ref
2017
	Rutina Wesley	Queen Sugar	OWN	[1][2][3]
	Viola Davis	How to Get Away With Murder	ABC
	Jurnee Smollett	Underground	WGN America
	Taraji P. Henson	Empire	FOX
	Dawn-Lyen Gardner	Queen Sugar	OWN
2018
	Rutina Wesley	Queen Sugar	OWN	[4][5]
	Taraji P. Henson	Empire	FOX
	Dawn-Lyen Gardner	Queen Sugar	OWN
	Niecy Nash	Claws	TNT
	Kerry Washington	Scandal	ABC
2019
	Rutina Wesley	Queen Sugar	OWN	[6]
	Dawn-Lyen Gardner	Queen Sugar	OWN
	Niecy Nash	Claws	TNT
	Angela Bassett	9-1-1	FOX
	Alfre Woodard	Luke Cage	Netflix

2020s

Year	Actress	Series	Network	Ref
2020
	Zendaya	Euphoria	HBO	[6][7][8][9][10]
	Viola Davis	How to Get Away With Murder	ABC
	Janelle Monae	Homecoming	Amazon Prime Video
	Rutina Wesley	Queen Sugar	OWN
Simone Missick	All Rise	CBS
2021
	Jurnee Smollett	Lovecraft Country	HBO	[11][12]
	Dawn-Lyen Gardner	Queen Sugar	OWN
	Simone Missick	All Rise	CBS
	Queen Latifah	The Equalizer	CBS
Brandee Evans	P-Valley	Starz
2022
	Zendaya	Euphoria	HBO	[13]
	Tawny Cypress	Yellowjackets	Showtime
	Naomie Harris	The Man Who Fell to Earth	Showtime
	Queen Latifah	The Equalizer	CBS
Patina Miller	Power Book III: Raising Kanan	Starz

Superlatives

Superlative	Outstanding Actress, Drama Series
Actress with most awards	Rutina Wesley (3)
Actress with most nominations	Dawn-Lyen Gardner Rutina Wesley (4)
Actress with most nominations without ever winning	Dawn-Lyen Gardner (4)

Programs with multiple awards

3 awards Queen Sugar 2 awards Euphoria

Performers with multiple awards

3 awards Rutina Wesley (3 consecutive) 2 awards Zendaya

Programs with multiple nominations

8 nominations Queen Sugar 2 nominations All Rise Claws Empire Euphoria The Equalizer How to Get Away With Murder

Performers with multiple nominations

4 nominations Dawn-Lyen Gardner Rutina Wesley 2 nominations Viola Davis Taraji P. Henson Queen Latifah Simone Missick Niecy Nash Jurnee Smollett Zendaya

Total awards by network

• OWN - 3
• HBO - 3