Catherine O’Hara received her sixth Emmy nomination, and second for playing Schitt’s Creek matriarch Moira Rose, on Tuesday as the Canadian comedy raked in 15 nominations including acting nods for Eugene Levy, Dan Levy and Annie Murphy. The show, which wrapped up after six seasons in April, was a slow burner, gaining recognition for the first time in 2019 before going out this year with a bang.
Following news of her nomination, O’Hara talked to THR about Emmy morning group chats with the cast, nominations for the whole Rose family and the show’s delayed breakout.
How are you feeling after getting this nomination for the final season?
Isn’t that crazy? It’s a lovely surprise, really lovely. And really happy for Eugene and Daniel and for Annie and our wardrobe and hair and makeup and editing and casting, it’s crazy, crazy great. It’s all so deserved, they did amazing work here in Toronto. They did amazing work and they’re beautiful, fun and funny people and I’m just really, really happy for everyone involved.
How is it for all four of you to be nominated together?
It’s the best. I’m sorry we can’t get together with each other, it’s so sad, but I’m thrilled. Especially because Eugene and I were lucky enough to be nominated last year, but now to have Daniel and Annie nominated too, that’s just the Rose family, we’re all nominated together. It’s so lovely.
Where you when you heard, were you watching live?
No, I forgot about it. I was going to watch it, I wasn’t oblivious, but I got distracted and then forgot what time it was and then our Schitt’s Creek PR woman texted me congratulations. And it was like “Oh my God!” and then there was lots of texting back and forth. I spoke with Eugene on the phone for a while and spoke with Annie. We’re all just thrilled, which is really nice, and I’m thrilled for CBC here in Canada that nurtured the show from the beginning and let Eugene and Daniel make the show they wanted to make and let them finish it last spring. Who knew we wouldn’t be able to do it this year? I’m happy for them too.
What has it been like for these past two years, and especially this last season, to have the show become such a breakout hit?
Isn’t that really the best way to experience on your show? We got to build the show and develop the characters without worrying about expectations, from anyone. We got to make the show the best we could make it. CBC did a great job of building an audience in Canada and then Pop TV picked it up and it wasn’t a big audience but it was a nice, loyal audience, and then Netflix brought it out to the rest of the world. There’s so many projects that get a ton of attention right at the beginning, maybe before they’re even quite ready for it, and then it’s kind of downhill attention-wise from there. We’re so lucky to do the show we wanted and, apparently, leaving people wanting more. I’m happy to be a late bloomer, I always have been in my life and I’m grateful for it. You have to have a bit of patience in life or just don’t have any big expectations, just carry along and do the best you can and maybe someone will notice, maybe they won’t but if you enjoy the work itself, then that’s enough of a gift.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
