California [US], September 15 (ANI): Actor Matthew Rhys has made Emmy history by winning two lead actor awards on the same night, becoming the first actor to achieve the feat in the ceremony’s history.
Rhys won two lead acting Emmys on the same night at Monday’s ceremony. Earlier in the night, he took home the lead actor (limited) for his work in Netflix’s 'The Beast in Me.' Later on, he nabbed the lead comedy actor prize for Apple TV’s “Widow’s Bay.”
He’s now the first person ever to claim both lead actor prizes in a single ceremony, and adding to his 2018 drama win for 'The Americans,' the pair of statuettes also makes him the first male performer to win in all three lead acting categories.
According to Variety, two performers had won two acting Emmys on one night before, but neither did it in the lead categories.
James Earl Jones swept lead drama actor for 'Gabriel’s Fire' and supporting actor (limited) for 'Heat Wave' in 1991, and Stockard Channing took two supporting actress trophies in 2002, for 'The West Wing' and 'The Matthew Shepard Story.'
Rhys, already a previous Emmy winner for lead drama actor in 2018 for 'The Americans' and now, 'Widow’s Bay' and 'The Beast in Me' hands him the complete set of lead acting Emmys across drama, comedy and limited, a trifecta no actor had ever assembled.
In the limited race, the actor pulled off the bigger surprise, edging the presumptive favourite Oscar Isaac ('Beef') along with Riz Ahmed ('Bait'), Jason Bateman ('Black Rabbit') and Charlie Hunnam ('Monster: The Ed Gein Story').
On the comedy side, Rhys topped Yahya Abdul-Mateen II ('Wonder Man'), Steve Carell ('Rooster'), Jason Segel ('Shrinking') and Martin Short ('Only Murders in the Building').
The Welsh actor also has two additional nominations as an executive producer on both of his series.
This year’s Emmy nominations were led by “The Pitt” with 25 nominations, followed by 'Hacks,' 'Widow’s Bay' and 'Beef.' The award show is underway in Los Angeles, California. (ANI)
Emmy Awards 2026: Matthew Rhys creates history after bagging two lead actor awards in one night
