Evan Rachel Wood forgot the Emmy Award nominations were being announced on Thursday (13.07.17).

The 'Westworld' actress admits her place on the shortlist for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series came as a genuine shock because she had deliberately tried to avoid getting "worked up" at the thought and put the announcement to the back of her mind.

She told People magazine: "It's so funny -- I try not to work myself up about these things because the anticipation will just kill you, so I didn't realise it was today.

"So you get woken up by phone calls and texts, and it's the best way to wake up. It's almost better when it's a surprise!"

And the first people to congratulate Evan on her nomination were her castmates from the HBO fantasy series.

Asked who reached out first, she said: "Some of my castmates. James Marsden and Shannon Woodward texted me almost immediately."

'Westworld' - which is set in a futuristic pleasure park where men pay to interact with mostly-female robots - scored a staggering 22 nominations and the 29-year-old actress couldn't be more "proud" of the show.

She said: "I'm just so proud. I love this show so much -- it's the best job I've ever had. It was really a once in a lifetime gig. The fact that people are loving it as much as we do is the best feeling.

"It's really making people think and figure things out and ask questions. Anything that engages an audience like that, I think is a real rare treat."

While Evan is very happy on the show, she admits it isn't easy to play an artificial being because bosses are so keen for nothing to be "hokey".

She said: "We wanted it to be incredibly realistic and an honest glimpse at what this world could be like.

"So finding certain mannerisms that are going to read as artificial but still don't seem over-the-top, that was a challenge.

"But I think we all found a really amazing flow and invented a style for the show."