Variety’s “Actors on Actors” received two Daytime Emmy Award nominations this year, both in the Outstanding Arts and Popular Culture Program category.
This also includes a nod to the series’ spring 2025 broadcast on PBS SoCal as “Variety Studio: Actors on Actors” in the run-up to TV awards season. The show then moved to CNN’s streaming platform, where the film-focused fall 2025 edition of “Variety & CNN Actors on Actors” earned another nomination.
Variety’s signature video series, “Actors on Actors,” pairs actors up for candid conversations about their recent projects and insights about the entertainment industry. The masterpiece has been nominated in the Actors on Actors category four years in a row (with previous nominations in 2023, 2024, and 2025), and marks the series’ fifth and sixth Daytime Emmy nominations overall.
Actors on Actors won the 2019 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Series. This year, the series’ two nominated films will compete with CBS Media Ventures’ Entertainment Tonight special “Beyond the Gates: Welcome to the Neighborhood,” as well as AmericanTheaterWing.org’s “Off Script With the Hollywood Reporter” (produced with IFC) and “Working in the Theatre.”
“Actors on Actors” premiered in 2014. Over the years, the series has won a Daytime Emmy Award, as well as a Los Angeles Area Emmy Award (2016 for Best Entertainment Program), two Cine Golden Eagle Awards, a Webby Award, and multiple Telly Awards.
Fall 2025’s Actors on Actors Season 23 recreates the first edition in collaboration with CNN and Variety, with new episodes debuting exclusively for subscribers on CNN’s streaming service and then premiering on Variety’s digital platforms.
Season 23 participants included Ariana Grande (“Wicked: For Good”) and Adam Sandler (“Jay Kelly”). Julia Roberts (“After the Hunt”) and Sean Penn (“One Battle After Another”). Jonathan Bailey (Wicked: For Good, Jurassic World: Rebirth) and David Corenswet (Superman). Dwayne Johnson (“Smashing Machines”) and Brendan Fraser (“The Rental Family”). Gwyneth Paltrow (“Marty Supreme”) and Jacob Elordi (“Frankenstein”). and Cynthia Erivo (Wicked: For Good) and Hugh Jackman (Song San Bleu).
Also, Sidney Sweeney (“Christie”) and Ethan Hawke (“Blue Moon”). Stellan Skarsgård (“Sentimental Value”) and Alexander Skarsgård (“Pillion”). Michael B. Jordan (“Sinners”) and Jesse Plemons (“Bugonia”). Kate Hudson (“Song San Bleu”) and Jeremy Allen White (“Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere”). Oscar Isaac (“Frankenstein”) and Teyana Taylor (“One Battle After Another”). Colin Farrell (The Ballad of the Little Player) and Jesse Buckley (Hamnet). Jennifer Lawrence (“Die My Love”) and Leonardo DiCaprio (“One Battle After Another”).
Actors on Actors Season 23 is executive produced by Variety’s co-editor-in-chief and co-president Ramin Setoudeh and associate publisher Donna Penestri, as well as CNN Originals’ Amy Entelis and Roxanna Sherwood.
For season 22, Colin Farrell (Penguins) and Danny DeVito (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Abbott Elementary) have joined the cast. Arnold Schwarzenegger (“The Secret Level”) and Patrick Schwarzenegger (“The White Lotus”). Dave Chappelle (“Saturday Night Live”) and Mo Amer (“Mo”). Seth Rogen (“The Studio”) and Jason Segel (“Shrinking”). Parker Posey (“The White Lotus”) and Lisa Kudrow (“No Good Deed”). Cooper Koch (“Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez”) and Sam Nivola (“White Lotus”).
Also, Sterling K. Brown (“Paradise”) and Natasha Rothwell (“The White Lotus,” “How to Die Alone”). Amanda Seyfried (“Long Bright River”) and Adam Brody (“Nobody Wants This”). Javier Bardem (“Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez”) and Diego Luna (“Andor,” “La Machina”). Joe Locke (Agatha All Along, The Heartstopper) and Charlie Cox (Daredevil: Born Again). Kate Hudson (“Running Point”) and Kathryn Hahn (“Agatha All Along,” “The Studio”). Keri Russell (The Diplomat) and Scott Speedman (Teacup, Grey’s Anatomy). Adam Scott (“Disconnect”) and Kristen Bell (“Nobody Wants This”). and Kathy Bates (“Matlock”) and Billy Bob Thornton (“Landman”).
Actors on Actors Season 22 is executive produced by Setude, Pennestri, Michelle Marker and Andrew Russell. Michelle Sobrino-Stearns served as executive producer. Producers included Maris Berzins, Georg Kallert, Diana Nguyen, and Rob Schroeder.
The 53rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards will be held on Friday, October 30th in Los Angeles.
