Laura Linney won the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie at the 65th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday for her role in The Big C: Hereafter.

The actress, however, wasn't there to accept the award. Matt Damon, who presented the honor along with Michael Douglas, said that Linney was working. But, before he explained why she wasn't at the Emmys, he cracked a joke about her absence.

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"Laura couldn't be here tonight," he said. "She's such a great actress that she didn't even need to show up."

The actress was up against Jessica Lange for American Horror Story: Asylum, Helen Mirren for Phil Spector, Elisabeth Moss for Top of the Lake and Sigourney Weaver for Political Animals.

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The 65th annual Emmy Awards was hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, which marks the second time the How I Met Your Mother actor hosted the awards show.

"It's a fun awards show, because it honors television and all of the people that are there are in their own little bubble worlds. They all are working really hard," he recently said on The Talk. "I'm just trying to keep the flow alive. My goal isn't to outperform or to like show off, my job more is to make sure things are moving smoothly."

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Emmys 2013, Laura linney