Emmy Awards: Squid Game’s Lee Jung-jae is the first Korean actor to win Best Actor award

He is the first Asian actor to win the drama award for a non-English speaking role at the Emmys

Squid Game star Lee Jung-jae has made history by becoming the first Korean actor to win an Emmy award for Best Actor in a Drama.

During Monday (12 September) night’s ceremony, the 49-year-old actor won the Emmy award for his lead role in the Korean-language series.

“Thank you to the Television Academy, thank you to Netflix and thank you to the director for making realistic problems we all face come to life so creatively on the screen with a great script,” he said during his acceptance speech at the star-studded ceremony.

“Thank you Squid Game team. Thank you to everyone watching in Korea,” he added.

Lee beat Bob Odenkirk, Jason Bateman, Adam Scott, Brian Cox and Jeremy Strong to win this award. He is the first Asian actor to win the drama award for a non-English-speaking role at the Emmys.

Squid Game received a total of 14 Emmy nominations this year, and won four awards.

Apart from Lee, the show’s director Hwang Dong-hyuk also became the first Asian director to win in the Outstanding Drama Series category and the first ever director to win for a non-English-language series.

Korean actor Lee You-mi also took home an Emmy award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, for her role as Ji-yeong.

To read about the biggest talking points from the 2022 Emmys, click here.