Jodie Foster gives moving speech on first Emmy win: “Love and work equal art”

Although Jodie Foster can boast of virtually every entertainment accolade there is – including leaving her mark at her hand and footprint ceremony in April alongside screen legends who came before her – there was one major award she had yet to win.

At the 76th Emmy Awards on Sunday, Foster won the first Emmy of her long career and gave a moving acceptance speech after being named best actress in a limited series or anthology series for her role as police chief Liz Danvers in “True Detective: Night Country.”

Foster gave special thanks to co-star Kali Reis, showrunner Issa López, her children and her wife Alexandra Hedison, saying, “Love and work equal art” and urging her children “not to lose sight of that.”

Foster, who has already won Oscars for her work in The Accused and The Silence of the Lambs, has almost all the requirements for the EGOT. All she needs is a Tony Award.

“This is an incredibly emotional moment for me because True Detective: Night Country was such a magical experience and it all comes from the top,” Foster said in her speech. “And especially from the indigenous people, the Iñupiat and Inuit of northern Alaska. They just told us their stories and let us listen, and that was a blessing. It was love, love, love, and when you feel that, something amazing happens that is deep and wonderful and older than this place and this time.”