Stephen Graham had a hell of a Sunday for someone who “is just a mixed-race kid from a block of flats in a place called Kirkby,” in his own words.
Graham won best actor in a limited series and best writing at the 2025 Emmy Awards for his brilliant work in Adolescence, which also won for best limited series.
Graham, who co-created the series, starred as the dad in the show, who by its end is emotionally wrecked — as if hitting your marks and lines in all those long one-shots was not enough to juggle.
“This sort of thing doesn’t normally happen to a kid like me,” Graham said in his acceptance speech for best actor. “I’m just a mixed-race kid from a block of flats in a place called Kirkby. So, for me to be here today in front of my peers and to be acknowledged by you is the utmost humbling thing I could ever imagine in my life, and it shows you that any dream is possible.”
His (TV) kid won too. Supporting actor in a limited series went to Owen Cooper, the adolescent in Adolescence, for his first-ever acting role. Cooper is the youngest-ever actor to win the category.
Graham had some stiff competition in the acting category. Cooper Koch was nominated for playing Erik Menendez in Netflix’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story (Nicholas Alexander Chavez played his big brother Lyle), Jake Gyllenhaal was the generally presumed guilty party in legal thriller Presumed Innocent (Apple TV+), Colin Farrell was unrecognizable in HBO’s The Penguin, which serves as a bridge between DC’s The Batman films, and Brian Tyree Henry played a drug dealer playing a DEA agent in Apple TV+ miniseries Dope Thief.
In limited series, Adolescence bested Black Mirror, Dying for Sex, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story and The Penguin.
Adolescence followed in the footsteps of fellow viral UK Netflix hit Baby Reindeer, which last year won best limited series and acting and writing trophies for creator Richard Gaad.
The 2025 Creative Arts Emmys took place last weekend; you can find the winners from Saturday here and from Sunday here.
Source link
