Emmys 2011: Who Deserves the Award for Guest Actor in a Drama?

The competition for the 2011 Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series can be broken into two distinct categories: Those who’ve already won an Emmy, and those who got their very first nomination just this year.

In the former group, we’ve got five-time Emmy winner Michael J. Fox (The Good Wife) and three-time winner Beau Bridges (Brothers & Sisters), both of whom are veterans of the Guest Actor wars, albeit for different series than the ones for which they’re nominated in 2011. (Bridges scored nods in 2010, 2009, 2007, and 1995 for The Closer, Desperate Housewives, My Name Is Earl, and The Outer Limits; Fox won in 2009 for Rescue Me, and was in the hunt in 2006 for Boston Legal.) Meanwhile, Robert Morse, who took home the Emmy statuette for Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special for American Playhouse back in 1993, seeks his first win after three Guest Actor nominations in the last four years for Mad Men.

Conversely, Big Love‘s Bruce Dern, Harry’s Law‘s Paul McCrane, and Justified‘s Jeremy Davies are all celebrating their first moment of Emmy anticipation this year.