Owen Cooper has made Emmy history. The 15-year-old Netflix’s Adolescence star became the youngest male actor to ever win an acting award at the Primetime Emmys.
Cooper took home the trophy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or TV Movie on Sunday night.
The young actor received a standing ovation as he thanked the cast and crew of the critically acclaimed drama, along with his parents, before delivering an emotional speech about his unlikely journey to the stage.
“Honestly, when I started these drama classes a couple years back, I didn’t expect to be in the United States, never mind here, but I think tonight proves that if you listen and you focus and you step out of your comfort zone, you can achieve anything in life.
I was nothing about three years ago and I’m here now. Who cares if you get embarrassed? Anything can be possible,” he told the audience.
With the win, Cooper shattered two records.
He surpassed Michael A. Goorjian, who was 23 when he won the same category in 1994, and also broke Scott Jacoby’s 1973 record as the youngest male actor ever to win in any Primetime Emmy acting category.
Jacoby was 16 when he earned Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for That Certain Summer.
Cooper’s victory is even more impressive considering he had never acted before auditioning for Adolescence.
In the series, he plays 13-year-old Jamie Miller, a schoolboy arrested on suspicion of murder. Rather than focusing on who committed the crime, the show explores why, diving into family dynamics and the ripple effects of trauma.
The drama, co-created by Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne and directed by Philip Barantini, became Netflix’s second most-watched English-language series in June, pulling in over 141 million views within three months of release.
It trails only Wednesday and even surpassed Stranger Things season four.
Cooper triumphed over a field of seasoned nominees, including Javier Bardem (Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story), Bill Camp and Peter Sarsgaard (Presumed Innocent), Rob Delaney (Dying for Sex), and his own co-star Ashley Walters.
Earlier this year, Cooper admitted to Deadline that his lack of experience may have been an advantage.
“I didn’t know what was hard and what was easy, so I just went with it,” he said, recalling how he dove into the intense one-shot filming style without hesitation.
“Whatever I got asked to do, I did it because I wanted to prove that I was right for the part of Jamie, I wanted to impress everyone.”
Graham, who stars as Cooper’s onscreen father, praised the young actor’s raw talent, comparing him to both Robert De Niro and Thomas Turgoose, his breakout co-star from This Is England.
“When [Cooper and I] were in that room I just looked at him and said, ‘I’m going to be your dad,’ and he went ‘OK’ and I just felt something then. He just had this magic,” Graham said.
