Emmy '13 Spotlight: Supporting Actress in a Comedy

The 2013 Emmys are closing in, and ET is breaking down your list of contenders, starting with the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy category.



Julie Bowen has been acting for two decades, but Modern Family has taken her career to new heights.



As the oft-exasperated "Claire Dunphy," Bowen has notched four consecutive Emmy nominations for her supporting role, one for each season of Modern Family.


After receiving her first Emmy nomination in 2010, Bowen took home her first-ever Emmy the following year, and then repeated in 2012 to secure two awards in three years.

Before Glee came along and irrevocably tied Jane Lynch to her alter ego Sue Sylvester -- the devious, quippy cheerleading coach of William McKinley High School -- the lanky, six-foot-tall comedian was a regular on the sketch comedy scene and made countless guest appearances on television, earning a Primetime Emmy nomination for a guest spot on "Two and a Half Men" in 2003.



Jane quickly became a familiar face on TV, and people made sure to learn her name after stealing scenes on the big screen in Christopher Guests's ensemble mockumentaries "Best in Show," "A Mighty Wind" and "For Your Consideration."



Easily jumping back and forth between film and TV projects, Jane was nominated a second time in 2011 for her supporting role performance as Sue Sylvester in Glee, but did not take home the statuette. Still a good sport, she jokingly called herself a "loser" while hosting that 63rd Annual Emmy Awards ceremony.

Sofia Vergara has drawn both laughs and captivated stares for her character "Gloria Delgado-Pritchett" on the comedy series Modern Family.


The actress plays a passionate-yet-naïve Colombian woman who marries an American man (portrayed by Ed O'Neill), whose different cultural upbringings often lead to comical conflict.



This year's Emmy nomination marks Vergara's fourth in four years after first being nominated during the first season of Modern Family in 2010.



With the potential to receive her first Emmy in 2013, Vergara's competitors include fellow Modern Family actress Julie Bowen, who has won the award the past two years.

Merritt Wever has made her stamp on television with the enthusiastic nurse "Zoey Barkow" on Nurse Jackie.


Wever's zealous character, who rooms with the titular character (portrayed by former Sopranos actress Edie Falco), brings the laughs with her ambitious prods to understand Nurse Jackie's personal struggles with addiction.



The TV Academy is taking note of Wever's emergence on television, as she has now been nominated for her first two Emmys in consecutive years.

Mayim Bialik's career has come full-circle with The Big Bang Theory. 


She began studies towards her PhD in neuroscience, put progress on her degree was put on hold in 2005 so she could focus primarily on acting. She then officially became Dr. Bialik in 2007.



Two years later, she became a doctor on TV as well when she joined The Big Bang Theory as neurobiologist "Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler."



Now, Bialik has her sights set on her next achievement: an Emmy. She was nominated for her first award last year and has now been nominated in consecutive years with this year's nomination.

Former child star Anna Chlumsky first gained attention acting opposite superstar Macaulay Culkin in the well-received My Girl in 1991, followed by a sequel in 1994. But after a few more projects, she left the acting world to focus on her studies, only to circle back to the acting world to star in such indie movies as Blood Car and In the Loop, a political satire that led to her similar, Emmy-nominated role in HBO's Veep.


Starring opposite Julia Louis-Dreyfus' politically challenged U.S. vice president, Anna has earned a Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy nomination for her role as Amy Brookheimer, the VP's chief of staff who consistently must sacrifice her own reputation to help her boss save face.