Julia Louis-Dreyfus Caps a Week of Starring Roles for 4 Actresses

Olivia Pope and Selina Meyer are used to finding themselves on the political stage. Gaby Solis and Rainbow Johnson not so much. Yet this week, all four — or at least, the actresses who have played them — presided over the Democratic Party’s biggest political event of the year.

Celebrities have long been a fixture of politics, but never quite like this. During the Democratic National Convention, four women weren’t quite the leads, but perhaps the best supporting actresses.

The women — Eva Longoria, Kerry Washington, Tracee Ellis Ross and Julia Louis-Dreyfus — are all known for their activism, emerging as some of the most famous figures in the #Resistance movement to the Trump administration. They’re also familiar American faces, having all starred in long-running television shows.

Each night, the four celebrities guided the television audience through the program, introducing taped segments, montages and speakers from a soundstage in Los Angeles. After moving videos of victims of gun violence or the coronavirus, it was the women who helped television viewers process what they had seen.