Emmy Awards 2022: Squid Game's Lee Jung-jae first Asian actor to win Best Actor in drama category

Actor Lee Jung-jae, who received worldwide recognition for his lead role in Korean series Squid Game, became the first Asian actor to win Emmy award under Best Actor in a drama category.

It is to be noted that Lee is only the fourth Asian actor ever to win an Emmy award and also becomes the first to receive drama award for non-English speaking category.

Others who were nominated alongside Lee were Bob Odenkirk for Better Call Saul, Jason Bateman for Ozark, Adam Scott for Severance, and Brian Cox and Jeremy Strong for Succession.

Upon receiving the award, Lee gave an acceptance speech both in English and Korean. "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. Thank you, ‘Squid Game’ team. Thank you to everyone watching in Korea,” Variety quoted Lee.

Squid Game premiered on Netflix in September 2021, and has been renewed for second season after it was received well among audience across the world. The series earned 14 nominations and won six out of them. Lee You-mi won the award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, while it was also recognised under categories Outstanding Special Visual Effects, Outstanding Stunt Performance, Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary Program.