Congratulations are in order: at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards last night, Adolescence’s breakout star Owen Cooper won Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie — and became the youngest male acting winner in Emmy history while he was at it. The 15-year-old, who plays Jamie Miller (a teenage boy accused of killing his classmate), delivered a performance that did what great performances do: it shut up the room and rewrote expectations.
Cooper’s victory is the sort of headline that makes awards-season gossip feel small and instantly historic. He beat a heavyweight shortlist — Javier Bardem, Rob Delaney, Peter Sarsgaard and his own co-star Ashley Walters — and in doing so broke the record previously held by Scott Jacoby, who was 16 when he won in 1973 for That Certain Summer. For context, the youngest Emmy winner overall remains Roxana Zal, who was 14 when she won in 1984 for Something About Amelia. Still, to add Cooper’s name to that tiny, illustrious list at 15 is something else entirely.
His acceptance speech was disarmingly honest and very much of the moment. “Honestly, when I started these drama classes a couple years back, I didn’t expect to even be in the United States, let alone here,” he said, before offering a pep talk disguised as gratitude: “If you listen and you focus and you step out of your comfort zone, you can achieve anything in life… who cares if you get embarrassed, you know?” For an actor whose role required a terrifying emotional depth, that kind of poise on stage felt earned, not manufactured.
This role in Adolescence — the Netflix single-shot limited series that’s been the talk of the year — was Cooper’s first major turn, and it was a show-stopper. The series itself was a powerhouse at the Emmys: nominated for 13 awards and walking away with a slew of trophies, it effectively dominated the night. Co-star Erin Doherty, who plays psychologist Briony Ariston and shares many pivotal scenes with Cooper, won Outstanding Supporting Actress. Stephen Graham, who plays Jamie’s father and also co-created, co-wrote and executive produced the show, won Outstanding Lead Actor. The series also cleaned up in the creative categories — Outstanding Writing, Outstanding Directing — and clinched the evening’s biggest prize: Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series. Christine Tremarco and Ashley Walters also earned recognition with acting nominations, underscoring how stacked the cast and crew were.
When Graham accepted the show’s top honour, he didn’t mince words about how the win felt. “This was a huge collaboration,” he said, praising the set as a family where every person — whether top of the call sheet or number 101 — was treated with the same respect. “What we managed to create was a beautiful family… We’re all the same, and I think that’s how you get the best work, and the best out of your people.” It’s a line that casts the sweep not as a fluke but as the payoff for a genuinely collective labour of love.
What’s next for Cooper? He’s already lined up to play Young Heathcliff in Emerald Fennell’s upcoming adaptation of Wuthering Heights, opposite Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi — which, frankly, feels like exactly the kind of audacious next step a 15-year-old Emmy winner deserves. For now, though, the moment belongs to him: a teenager who walked into drama classes, kept his head down, and walked out of the Emmys with history in his pocket.
