'The Queen's Gambit' and 'The Mandalorian' win big at Creative Arts Emmys

Claire Foy, Courtney B Vance, Maya Rudolph and Dave Chappelle won Guest Actor Emmys at Sunday's Creative Arts Awards ceremony.

On the Drama Series side, Foy was honoured for The Crown and her reprisal of Queen Elizabeth II, the role that won her a Best Lead Actress Emmy in 2018. Vance won for his part in Lovecraft Country, which was cancelled after one season.

Rudolph and Chappelle earned Comedy Series guest acting trophies as hosts of Saturday Night Live. For Rudolph, it was a repeat of her victory in the category last year, also for SNL.

In the Short Form Comedy or Drama Series, the winners were JB Smoove for Mapleworth Murders and Keke Palmer for Keke Palmer's Turnt Up with the Taylors.

All the awards, except for that earned by Foy, went to black actors. While that appeared to signal a trend towards diversity for this year's Emmys, the Guest Actor awards have proved more inclusive than the top acting honours in recent years.

The Creative Arts Awards were presented in non-televised weekend ceremonies that will be part of a special Saturday show on FXX. The awards are precursors to the main Emmys ceremony, broadcasting next Sunday on CBS, with Cedric the Entertainer as host.

Emmanuel Acho, executive producer of Uncomfortable Conversation with a Black Man, which won for Short Form Nonfiction or Reality Series, wore a suit that bore the names of black men and women killed at the hands of the police.

The Queen's Gambit, a coming-of-age tale set in the world of championship chess, emerged with a leading nine Creative Arts Awards, including for Best Casting, Cinematography and Music Composition for a Limited or Anthology series.

The Mandalorian, a live-action series set in the Star Wars universe, was in second place (tied with Saturday Night Live) with seven awards. It's vying for Best Drama Series honours next weekend, while The Queen's Gambit is a Best Limited Series contender.

Streaming services dominated the awards tallies so far, with Netflix on top with 34 honours, followed by Disney+ with 13 and HBO Max combined with cable channel HBO at 10.

Other weekend winners included Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square as Best TV movie; Lateef Crowder for Best Stunt Performance and Ryan Watson, stunt coordinator, both for The Mandalorian; the James Corden-produced Carpool Karaoke: The Series, for Best Short Form Comedy, Drama or vVariety Series.