Emmys: Kiwi director behind The Crown Jessica Hobbs wins award for best director in a drama series

New Zealand director Jessica Hobbs paid tribute to her mother and fellow women directors when she won an Emmy award for her work on television series The Crown.

The Emmy for best directing in a drama series was presented by actress America Ferrera, who handed the award to Hobbs for her directing in the Netflix show, which dramatises the lives of the British royal family.

Hobbs won for her directing work on the episode "War", the finale of the show's fourth season, which tells the story of the unravelling of the marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

The 2021 award is Hobbs' first Emmy win - she was also nominated in 2020 for an episode in The Crown's third season.

Hobbs appeared to be stunned when Ferrera read her name out, and keen lip readers may have spotted a possible profanity escape from her lips.

Speaking from London, where most of The Crown stars are beaming into the ceremony, she admitted she was nervous about her big moment.

"I hope that's used 20 seconds because I'm too nervous to speak," she said at the beginning of her speech.

Jessica Hobbs has won an Emmy for her directing work on Netflix's The Crown. Photo / Getty Images

The Crown stars Emerald Fennell and Olivia Colman cheered her on.

She thanked Peter Morgan and paid tribute to Cindy Holland and Nina Walaski for their "beautiful work", as well as the television academy.

She also thanked her children and her partner.

"What I'd really like to say is not a lot of women have won this award so I feel like I'm standing on the shoulders of some really extraordinary people, I'm very grateful for the path that they led.

"And I'd particularly like to pay tribute to my mum, who at 77 is still directing," she said, speaking of her mother Aileen O'Sullivan.

Hobbs was born and raised in Christchurch and had a passion for poems, plays and scripts which eventually saw her pursue directing. She worked alongside fellow New Zealand director Jane Campion on An Angel At My Table.

After eight years as an assistant director, Hobbs got her first big break directing Australian show Heartbreak High. Success in England followed, with such shows as Apple Tree Yard and Broadchurch.