Variety’s 2025 FYC TV Fest brought in stars from mega-popular and award-winning shows like “Hacks,” “Yellowjackets,” “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” “The Traitors” and many more.
Jean Smart was honored with the Mary Tyler Moore Visionary Award for her Emmy-winning comedy work on HBO’s “Hacks” and gave a heartfelt speech. Also on the comedy side, the stars of “Going Dutch,” “Animal Control,” “Georgie and Mandy’s First Marriage,” “Étoile” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” sat down for insightful panels on their shows and the state of comedy.
In more dramatic discussions, the casts of “The Day of the Jackal,” “Lockerbie: A Search for Truth,” “Matlock,” “Elsbeth,” “Evil” and “Dark Winds” talked the new seasons of their shows. And on the reality front, fan-favorite winners from “Drag Race,” “Traitors” and “The Challenge” reflected on their achievements.
See the full portrait gallery below.
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Onya Nurve
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Onya Nurve: Season 17 Winner, “RuPaul’s Drag Race”
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Jewels Sparkles
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Jewels Sparkles: Season 17 Runner Up, “RuPaul’s Drag Race”
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Jean Smart
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Jean Smart: Multiple Award-Winning Actor, Deborah Vance on “Hacks”
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Stephanie Koenig
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Stephanie Koenig: Actor, Gwen Sanders on “English Teacher”
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Abby Elliott
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Abby Elliott: Actor, Natalie ‘Sugar’ Berzatto on “The Bear”
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Matt Bomer
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Matt Bomer: Actor and Executive Producer, Jerry Frank on “Mid-Century Modern”
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Poorna Jagannathan
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Poorna Jagannathan, Actor, Lucky on “Deli Boys”
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Gideon Glick
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Gideon Glick: Actor, Tobias Bell on “Étoile”
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Luke Kirby
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Luke Kirby: Actor, Jack McMillan on “Étoile”
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Niecy Nash
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Niecy Nash: Actor and Executive Prododucer, Lois Tyron on “Grotesquerie”
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Elisabeth Moss
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Elisabeth Moss: Actor, Executive Producer and Director, June Osborne on “The Handmaid’s Tale”
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Emily Osment
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Emily Osment: Actor, Mandy on “George & Mandy’s First Marriage”
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Montana Jordan
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Montana Jordan: Actor, George on “George & Mandy’s First Marriage”
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Chuck Lorre
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Chuck Lorre: Co-Creator and Executive Producer, “George & Mandy’s First Marriage”
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Kaitlin Olson
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Kaitlin Olson: Actor, Morgan Gillory on “High Potential”
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Ellen Pompeo
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Ellen Pompeo: Actor and Executive Producer, Kristine Barnett on “Good American Family”
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Nicole Brydon Bloom
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Nicole Brydon Bloom: Actor, Jane Driscoll on “Paradise”
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Dolores Catania
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Dolores Catania: Contestant, “The Traitors”
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“Boston” Rob Mariano
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety “Boston” Rob Mariano: Contestant, “The Traitors”
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Dylan Efron
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Dylan Efron: Contestant, “The Traitors”
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Bob the Drag Queen
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Bob the Drag Queen: Contestant, “The Traitors”
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Justin Booth and Julia Pizzi
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Justin Booth, Executive Producer and Showrunner, “The Challenge” with and Julia Pizzi, President & CEO, Bunim/Murray Productions & 51 Minds Entertainment
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CT Tamburello
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety CT Tamburello: Star, “The Challenge”
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Rachel Robinson
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Rachel Robinson: Star, “The Challenge”
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Leroy Garrett
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Leroy Garrett: Star, “The Challenge”
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Aneesa Ferreira
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Aneesa Ferreira: Star, “The Challenge”
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Janelle James
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Janelle James: Actor, Ava Coleman on “Abbott Elementary”
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Jane Lynch
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Jane Lynch: Actor, Sazz Pataki on “Only Murders in the Building”
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Joel McHale
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Joel McHale: Actor and Executive Producer, Frank Shaw on “Animal Control”
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Jean Smart and Dr. S. Robert Levine
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Jean Smart and Dr. S. Robert Levine, Founder and CEO, The Mary Tyler Moore Initiative
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Steven Paul Judd
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Steven Paul Judd: Director & Writer, “Dark Winds”
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Zahn McClarnon
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Zahn McClarnon: Actor and Executive Producer, Lt. joe Leaphorn on “Dark Winds”
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Jamie Martin
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Jamie Martin: Editor, “RuPaul’s Drag Race”
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Goloka Bolte
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Goloka Bolte: Casting Director, “RuPaul’s Drag Race”
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Molly McNearney
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Molly McNearney: Head Writer & Executive Producer, “Kimmy Kimmel Live!”
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Michelle King and Robert King
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Michelle and Robert King: Creators and Showrunners, “Evil” and “Elsbeth”
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Jonathan Tolins
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Jonathan Tolins: Showrunner, “Elsbeth”
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Carrie Preston
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Carrie Preston: actor, Elsbeth Tascioni on ‘Elsbeth”
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Wendell Pierce
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Wendell Pierce: actor, Captain C.W. Wagner on “Elsbeth”
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Kathy Bates
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Kathy Bates: Executive Producer and Actor, Madeline ‘Mattie’ Matlock on “Matlock”
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Jason Ritter
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Jason Ritter: actor, Julian Markston on “Matlock”
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Skye P. Marshall
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Skye P. Marshall: Actor, Olympia Lawrence on “Matlock”
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Leah Lewis
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Leah Lewis: actor, Sarah Franklin on “Matlock”
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David Del Rio
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety David Del Rio: Actor, Billy Martinez on “Matlock”
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Jennie Snyder Urman
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Jennie Snyder Urman: Showrunner and Executive Producer, “Matlock”
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Jonathan Lisco
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Jonathan Lisco: Executive Producer and Showrunner, “Yellowjackets”
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Ashley Lyle
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Ashley Lyle: Executive Producer and Showrunner, “Yellowjackets”
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Melanie Lynskey
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Melanie Lynskey: Actor Shauna on “Yellowjackets”
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Bart Nickerson
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Bart Nickerson: Executive Producer and Showrunner, “Yellowjackets”
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Gareth Neame
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Gareth Neame: Executive producer, “Lockerbie: A Search for Truth” and “The Day of the Jackal”
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Nigel Marchant
Image Credit: Dan Doperalski for Variety Nigel Marchant: Gareth Neame, Executive producer, “Lockerbie: A Search for Truth” and “The Day of the Jackal”
