Owen Cooper, the breakout star of Netflix’s hit limited series “Adolescence,” has won the Emmy for 2025 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, making him the youngest male Emmy winner ever at age 15.
Cooper was 14 when he filmed “Adolescence,” and he was also the youngest actor to ever be nominated in his category. Roxana Zal, who won an Emmy in 1984 for the special “Something About Amelia,” remains the youngest winner ever in any category at age 14.
But especially notable for Cooper is that his Emmy win came for his first on-screen performance of his career. He’s already parlayed the acclaim he’s received for his work into playing a young Heathcliffe (who grows into Jacob Elordi) in Emerald Fennell’s upcoming “Wuthering Heights” adaptation.
Cooper won over a field that also included his “Adolescence” co-star Ashley Waters, as well as a bunch of seasoned actors many years his senior, including Javier Bardem for “Monster: The Lyle and Eric Menendez Story,” Rob Delaney for “Dying for Sex,” and Peter Sarsgaard and Bill Camp both for “Presumed Innocent.”
Cooper said on stage that when he started taking acting classes three years ago, he never imagined that he would be in the United States, let alone standing on the Emmys stage.
“If you listen and you focus and you step out of your comfort zone, you can achieve anything. I was nothing three years ago. Who cares if you get embarrassed,” Cooper said.
Netflix’s “Adolescence” was nominated for 13 Emmys and won two from the Creative Arts Emmys, those being Outstanding Casting for Shaheen Baig (presumably for discovering Cooper) and Outstanding Cinematography for Matthew Lewis. Lewis won for the show’s second episode, which does not feature Cooper, but each episode of the show is filmed in one complete, unbroken take and has wowed audiences with its craft. Philip Barantini also won for directing for “Adolescence.”
Despite just four episodes totaling fewer than four hours, “Adolescence” quickly became one of Netflix’s most popular series ever, sitting at No. 2 on its global Top 10 list for English-language shows behind only “Wednesday” Season 1 and ahead of “Stranger Things 4.” The show follows the sudden, surprise arrest of a 13-year-old boy, played by Cooper, whom we later learn is accused of murder. The series is not a whodunnit but an exploration of the criminal system and how toxic masculinity can fester under the radar of well-meaning parents. Cooper’s breathtaking work can be seen in Episode 3, in which he and a psychologist are face to face in a lengthy and eventually intense session.
The work is so strong, IndieWire also recognized Cooper at the IndieWire Honors event in June, in which he told the crowd that what started off as little more than a hobby, “acting has really taken me out of my comfort zone and inspired me to learn and soak up knowledge from other experienced actors.”
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