Owen Cooper-Emmy Awards
At just 15, Owen Cooper becomes the youngest actor ever to win for Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Anthology, after a breakthrough turn in Netflix’s Adolescence
At the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards, British teenager Owen Cooper has achieved a milestone: he walked away with the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for his performance in Adolescence. By winning this award, Cooper becomes the youngest actor ever to claim this specific Emmy honour. He also becomes the youngest ever nominee in his category, and now the youngest to turn that nomination into a win.
His character, Jamie Miller, is 13; a boy arrested after being accused of killing a schoolmate. The role is intense, emotionally raw, and complex. It’s the kind of part many seasoned actors would find daunting. For Cooper, it was his first professional acting job. He beat out some heavyweight competition to win, too: actors like Bill Camp, Javier Bardem, Peter Sarsgaard, Rob Delaney, and even his co-star Ashley Walters were among the nominees.
“It means some much to me. It means so much to me, my family, people back home. So, you know, it’s just, yeah, it just means a lot to me,” Cooper said in his acceptance speech. Asked by journalists how his friends would react to his win, Cooper said they might not be awake yet “because it’s four in the morning at home”, before adding: “They’ll be all over the moon, yes.”
An unlikely ascent
Cooper’s path to this moment was unlikely. Before Adolescence, he had never acted professionally. He joined drama classes only a few years ago in the UK, unaware that one day he’d be on a global stage.
He got the role of Jamie after sending in self-taped auditions — emotions shifting between innocence and guilt, rage and remorse — auditioning in settings ranging from pretending to walk into a headmaster’s office to showing the burden of unspoken inner turmoil.
Also read: Adolescence: A terrifying descent into the dark web of misogyny, teenage rage
Once cast, he immersed himself in the role. In Adolescence, each hour-long episode is shot in what feels like continuous takes, no easy feat for even experienced actors. Cooper, still a teenager, had to carry scenes through long stretches of time, sustaining emotional intensity, refining layers of confusion, anger, fear
‘It feels unreal’
At 15, Cooper says his rise still feels unreal. He remarked in interviews that three years ago, he felt he had “nothing,” and now he’s holding one of television’s top honours. A theme he’s repeated in several interviews: push your boundaries, take risks. “Step out of your comfort zone a little, who cares if you get embarrassed,” he’s said, urging peers to try even when the outcome is uncertain. Humility and courage seem to define not just his character Jamie, but Cooper himself.
Adolescence has been widely praised, not only for its storytelling but for the conversations it’s ignited about youth, identity, mental health, radicalisation, and guilt. Cooper’s win underlines how young voices and complex teenage stories are resonating now more than ever.
A new benchmark in Emmy history
For many in the industry, including showrunners, co-actors, critics, it’s not just a win, but a declaration that age needn’t limit depth or authenticity of an actor. Cooper’s performance showed that sheer emotional truth, vulnerability, and dedication can bridge experience gaps.
Also read: How virtual world is driving India’s teenagers to anxiety and depression
As applause echoes and cameras flash, Cooper’s future looks wide open. Already, he’s lined up roles, including playing young Heathcliff in a film adaptation of Wuthering Heights. If his debut is anything to go by, he may be just at the beginning of something significant.
Owen Cooper’s Emmy win is a milestone in how the television industry sees young actors — not just as future stars, but capable of carrying weighty, complicated narrative burdens now. At 15, with no prior screen experience beyond drama class, he’s shown what can happen when opportunity meets preparation. And perhaps more than anything, he’s shown what’s possible when someone refuses to stay in their comfort zone.