‘Succession’ star Sarah Snook wins her first Emmy for lead actress in a drama

Shiv Roy never got to become chief executive of Waystar Royco, but Sarah Snook, the actor who played her, can now claim another impressive title: Emmy winner.

The Australian performer won the Emmy for lead actress in a drama series Monday for her performance as the only daughter of media tycoon Logan Roy in the HBO series “Succession.” This was Snook’s third nomination for “Succession,” but her first time competing in the leading actress category and her first win — a move that reflected her character’s increased prominence over the show’s four seasons.

Accepting her prize Monday night, Snook dedicated her “biggest thank you” to her daughter, whom she was pregnant with during the last season of the show.

“Really, it was her who carried me,” she said, her voice breaking. “The proximity of her life growing inside me gave me the strength to do this.”

Snook gave a nod to the drama’s other winners during her acceptance speech, which included Matthew Macfadyen, Jesse Armstrong, Mark Mylod and Kieran Culkin. The show also won the award for drama series.

“We all put our all into it, and the bar was set so high, and I think that’s what spurred us on, from every department,” she said. “We all gave it our best.”

Shiv, Snook’s character, is the youngest of Logan’s children and was, at least initially, the most liberal, working for a progressive senator. But she eventually left politics and came to work for her father in hopes of one day succeeding him as chief executive.

As Snook said of her character in an interview with The Times last year, “She doesn’t believe in a glass ceiling, because she could buy the building.”

In the show’s acclaimed final season, which concluded in May, Logan’s sudden death left the future of Waystar Royco uncertain. Shiv — and the shifting power dynamics in her toxic marriage to Tom — took center stage. The episode Snook submitted for Emmy consideration was “Tailgate Party,” in which she and Tom fought bitterly during an election eve party.

Before “Succession” made her into a star on American television, Snook was primarily known for her award-winning work in Australia and for a supporting role in “Steve Jobs.”