Who is Frida Pérez, the First Latina to Win an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series?
AP Photo/Chris Pizzello
The 2025 Emmys didn’t leave us with many Latine winners. And yet, as the smoke cleared, there was one name that emerged, unexpectedly making history. Dominican-American producer Frida Pérez became the first Latina to win an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series for her work on The Studio.
But that’s not the only Emmy Pérez won. She, alongside Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Peter Huyck and Alex Gregory also won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series for the pilot episode of The Studio, titled “The Promotion.”
Pérez is also only the second Latine to ever win as a producer in any top series race in Emmy history. Cuban-American Celia D. Costas previously won for HBO’s Angels in America in the Outstanding Miniseries category, back in 2004. Big achievements for a woman whose Hollywood story began without any industry connections. Instead, Pérez has gone from Seth Rogen’s assistant to one of the co-creators and executive producers of this latest comedy powerhouse, The Studio.
“I started as his assistant,” Pérez told Variety. “Because of that, you’re just talking all day, every day. I was on set with him all the time, and we got to know each other, and he began to trust me.” Rogen, an established producer, recognized her talent and her contributions, making her a co-creator of The Studio, something Pérez worked hard for.
Ironically, there was another Latina producer nominated in the Outstanding Comedy Series category: Selena Gomez, for Only Murders in the Building. Gomez has been nominated four times. Other than her, only Salma Hayek, for Ugly Betty in 2007 and Carla González Vargas, for Wednesday in 2023 have ever been nominated.
For our communities, it’s a familiar story. Only three other Latines were nominated this year, Pedro Pascal for The Last of Us, Liza Colón-Zayas for The Bear, and Colman Domingo for The Four Seasons. None of them won. But Pérez is breaking barriers and opening doors we didn’t think could be open before. And if The Studio’s big wins on Emmy night prove anything, it’s that she’s just getting started.