If the Emmy Awards are any indicator, high school staff, police investigators and business owners/executives lead the most interesting lives — or at the least the lives that make for good TV. Out of the 24 actors nominated for an Emmy award for lead actor or actress in a television series: Four of their characters work in public high schools, four work as investigators for a police department and four are business owners or executives.

But that’s not where the similarities stop.

Three of the characters who garnered Emmy noms for their respective actors work in health care, two are comedy writers, two are mid-level managers and two are lawyers — for a grand total of 20 out of 24 characters that share an occupation with at least one other Emmy-nominated character.

With all the different careers paths out there (the Bureau of Labor Statistics  lists 280 different occupations in its Occupation Outlook Handbook), that’s got to say something about our entertainment — or occupational — preferences.

Below, a list of Emmy-nominated characters that are also professional peers.

The high school staff:

• “Glee”’s Matthew Morrison as Will Schuester, Spanish teacher and glee club director, William McKinley High School
• “Breaking Bad”’s Bryan Cranston as Walter White, high school chemistry teacher
• “Friday Night Lights”’ Kyle Chandler as Eric Taylor, coach, Dillon High School football team
• “Friday Night Lights”’ Connie Britton as Tami Taylor, guidance counselor, East Dillon High School

The investigators:

• “Monk”’s Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk, police homicide consultant, San Francisco Police Department
• “Dexter”’s Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan, blood spatter analyst, homicide unit, Miami metro police department
• “The Closer”’s Kyra Sedgwick as Brenda Johnson, deputy chief, Major Crimes Division, LAPD
• “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”’s Mariska Hargitay as Olivia Benson, detective, Manhattan Special Victims Unit

The business execs:

• “30 Rock”’s Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy, vice president of East Coast television and microwave programming, GE
• “Mad Men”’s Jon Hamm as Don Draper, partner, advertising firm of Sterling Cooper Draper Price
• “The New Adventures Of Old Christine”’s Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Christine Campbell, owner, women’s health club
• “Damages”’ Glenn Close as Patty Hewes, partner, Hewes and Associates LLP

The health-care workers:

• “House”’s Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House, doctor and chief of diagnostic medicine, Princeton‑Plainsboro Teaching Hospital
• “Lost”’s Matthew Fox as Jack Shephard, doctor
• “Nurse Jackie”’s Edie Falco as Jackie Peyton, nurse, All Saints’ Hospital

The comedy writers:

• “Curb Your Enthusiasm”’s Larry David as himself (a comedy writer)
• “30 Rock”’s Tina Fey as Liz Lemon, head writer, sketch comedy show

The mid-level managers:

• “The Office”’s Steve Carell as Michael Scott, regional manager, Dunder Mifflin Paper Company Inc. (A division of Sabre)
• “Parks And Recreation”’s Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, director of the Pawnee (Ind.) Department of Parks and Recreation

The lawyers:

• “Damages”’ Glenn Close as Patty Hewes, lawyer(also partner), Hewes and Associates LLP
• “The Good Wife”’s Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick, lawyer

The others:

• “The Big Bang Theory”’s Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper, theoretical physicist
• “Glee”’s Lea Michele as Rachel Berry, student
• “United States Of Tara’’s Toni Collette as Tara Gregson, mural painter
• “Mad Men”’s January Jones as Betty Draper, housewife

Who will take home Sunday’s awards? Let us know your favorites in the comments section!

For more on work and the entertainment industry, check out:

When Celebrities Decide to Un-retire

The 10 Worst Movie Jobs

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