"Game of Thrones," "Veep" big winners at Emmy Awards

The five-year reign of "Modern Family" as television's best comedy ended Sunday night as HBO's "Veep" won the 67th Emmy Awards as the top comedy series, while "Game of Thrones" spoiled the bid of "Mad Men" for a record fifth prize as best drama series.

The 67th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony was held on Sunday evening at the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles.

"Mad Men," which ended its run in May, did score a victory thanks to a best dramatic actor win by Jon Hamm, while Viola Davis took the prize for best drama actress for ABC's "How to Get Away with Murder."

HBO's "Game of Thrones" earned four prizes during the Emmy Awards -- for best drama series, best writing for co-creator David Benioff and executive producer D.B. Weiss, best directing for David Nutter and a best supporting actor prize for Peter Dinklage, his second win for his work on the show.

The victories by "Game of Thrones" and "Veep" capped a big night for HBO, which also saw its miniseries "Olive Kitteridge" pick up six Emmys. "Veep" also earned a best actress Emmy for Julia Louis-Dreyfus, as well as an Emmy for supporting actor Tony Hale and an Emmy for comedy writing for Simon Blackwell, series creators Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche.

The win by "Veep" snapped a five-year winning streak by ABC's "Modern Family," which had won the award every year it has been on the air.

Jeffrey Tambor took home the Emmy for comedy actor for Amazon's "Transparent."

Hamm's win for his role in "Mad Men" was a first for the series, as it has lost in acting categories a dozen times previously.

Davis' win was also her first Emmy -- on her first nomination. The 50-year-old actress used her acceptance speech to push for more roles for black women.

"The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity," she said. "You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there. So here's to all the writers, the awesome people ... people who have redefined what it means to be beautiful, to be sexy, to be leading women, to be black."

Uzo Aduba, 34, was named best supporting actress in a drama series for her work in Netflix's "Orange Is the New Black" -- the same role that earned her an Emmy last year for a guest role in a comedy.

The comedy win for Louis-Dreyfus, 54, was her fourth in a row for lead actress. She previously won a lead-actress Emmy for "The New Adventures of Old Christine" and a supporting actress prize for "Seinfeld."

Hale won his second supporting comedy actor Emmy for his work on "Veep." He won in the same category two years ago.

In addition to the best comedy actor win for Tambor, the transgender-centered series "Transparent" also scored a directing Emmy for Jill Soloway.

For 71-year-old Tambor, who won for his portrayal of transgendered woman Maura Pfefferman, the win was the first Emmy of his career. Tambor had six previous Emmy nominations -- two for "Arrested Development" and four for "The Larry Sanders Show."

Allison Janney, 55, won her seventh career Emmy Award for her supporting role on the CBS comedy "Mom." It was her second consecutive win in the category. She won four Emmys for her work as C.J. Cregg on "The West Wing" and won a guest actress Emmy last year for her appearance in the drama "Masters of Sex."

Meanwhile, HBO's miniseries "Olive Kitteridge" took home the most Emmys of the night, scoring six prizes, including outstanding limited series and top acting prizes for Frances McDormand and Richard Jenkins.

Regina King won the only limited series prize for a show other than "Olive Kitteridge," winning supporting actress for her work in "American Crime."

For this year's Emmys, all references to miniseries were changed to limited series, which is defined as a program with two or more episodes with a total running time of at least 150 minutes, that tells a complete, non-recurring story and does not have an ongoing storyline and/or main characters in subsequent seasons. Endi