Kate Winslet wins her 2nd Emmy despite tough competition from Anya Taylor-Joy

One of the most competitive races at the 2021 Emmys has ended with Kate Winslet being crowned the champion.

Winslet on Sunday won the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Emmy for her performance on HBO's Mare of Easttown.

"Mom, they're standing up!" Winslet shouted as she began her speech, noting she was receiving a standing ovation. The actress thanked her fellow nominees in the category, saying this should be the decade of "women having each other's backs."

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This was the second Emmy of Winslet's career after she previously won in this same category for Mildred Pierce in 2011. But her repeat victory was far from guaranteed, as she had some tough competition from Anya Taylor-Joy. The star of Netflix's The Queen's Gambit had collected numerous awards for her performance, previously winning at the Golden Globe Awards, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, and the Critics Choice Television Awards.

Those wins, though, occurred prior to the debut of Mare of Easttown, which earlier on Sunday also earned Julianne Nicholson and Evan Peters awards for their performances. During her acceptance speech, Winslet thanked viewers for watching the show, calling it a "cultural moment" that "brought people together and gave them something to talk about other than a global pandemic."

Earlier this year, Winslet opened up to The New York Times about the fact that audiences fell "in love with this wildly flawed, messy, broken, fragmented, difficult woman" she played in the series, adding, "I loved her marks and her scars and her faults and her flaws and the fact that she has no off switch, no stop button." Winslet has said a second season could possibly be on the table.