Meg Stalter didn’t want to risk arriving empty-handed. The 35-year-old actress, nominated for the first time for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy for “Hacks”, decided that if the Emmy wasn’t going to come to her, she would arrive transformed into the Emmy.
Her co-star and co-creator of the series, Paul W. Downs, took charge of painting her gold from head to toe: skin, hair, a bra and matching hot pants, gold jewelry, angel wings, and even a golden sphere floating above her head, like the statuette’s signature atom. The process, Downs said, took nearly two hours. She, by contrast, told Variety that she only needed 20 minutes to finish getting dressed that night, improvising with what they had on hand.
The appearance took place at the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony, held on September 14, 2026, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, where “Hacks” arrived with 24 nominations following the end of its final season. It’s not the first time Stalter has broken red carpet rules: in 2025, she had already surprised everyone by showing up in jeans and a white T-shirt instead of a formal gown.
