“Squid Game” actor Lee Jung-jae made history at the Emmys on Monday as the first actor to win Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for a non-English-speaking role.
Jung-jae, who plays Seong Gi-hun, aka Player 456, became the first Asian and South Korean actor to win in the category.
The actor thanked the show’s director, Hwang Dong-hyuk, for “making realistic problems we all face come to life.”
You can watch his acceptance speech, spoken in both English and Korean, below.
The show, which was nominated 14 times on Monday, wound up losing to “Succession” in the category.
Dong-hyuk, however, took home the Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series.
“Squid Game” made history as the first Netflix show to have more than 100 million viewers in the first month of its release. Actor O Yeong-Su won a Golden Globe Award for supporting actor in a television series earlier this year.
