After winning an Emmy early this evening for his writing on Netflix‘s smash hit drama Adolescence, which he co-created with Jack Thorne, Stephen Graham returned to the stage toward the end of the ceremony to claim his second statuette — this time, in the category of Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.
“This kind of thing doesn’t normally happen to a kid like me,” he said in his acceptance speech. “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.”
Graham then thanked his friends and family, without whom “none of this is possible,” as well as his collaborators Thorne and Philip Barantini, both of whom took home statuettes tonight.
“I want to bring it to my dad for taking me to a video shop when I was a kid and starting my education in film, my kids Grace and Alfie, and my adorable wife, who I love with every ounce of my being,” he said subsequently. “You are my rock, you are my will, you are my soulmate, and you know and I know without you, I would be dead. So from the bottom of my heart, I love you with everything I have. And namaste, everyone. Thanks very much.”
With his second win tonight, Graham beat out Colin Farrell for HBO and DC’s The Penguin, although Farrell was figured by many to be the odds’ favorite. Also competing against him were Brian Tyree Henry from Apple TV+’s The Dope Thief, Jake Gyllenhaal from Apple’s Presumed Innocent and Cooper Koch with his role in Netflix’s The Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.
In Adolescence, Graham plays Eddie Miller, the working class father to a 13-year old Northern UK boy who is accused of murdering a female classmate. It’s a set-up that’s shocking as the boy appears extremely innocent, he and his family gob smacked when police smash down their door making an arrest. Rather than figuring out whether or not the young lad did it, Adolescence explores the complexity and psychology of how an earnest student from a respectable family committed such a crime. Eddie Miller, who harbors anger, not always seen on the surface, may be to blame.
