Zendaya and Lee Jung-jae make history with Emmy Awards lead actor wins

The two performers have broken records in their respective drama series categories

'Euphoria' star Zendaya and 'Squid Game' star Lee Jung-jae with their lead actor Emmy Awards. AFP
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Zendaya and Lee Jung-jae have made history at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards.

Euphoria star Zendaya is the youngest person to win twice in the Emmys' leading acting categories, as she takes home her second Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series award for the show.

Squid Game star Lee, meanwhile, became the first South Korean actor to win Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

In 2020, Zendaya won her first Emmy for season one of Euphoria. Aged 24 at the time, she was the youngest recipient of the award. Two years on, she picked up the award for a second time.

Scroll through the gallery below to see all the winners of the Emmys 2022

The actress thanked her Euphoria co-stars for "making such a safe space to make this very difficult show". She also thanked the show's writer, Sam Levinson, "for sharing Rue" — referring to her character — with her, saying: "Thank you for believing in me even in moments where I didn’t believe in myself."

She ended her speech, saying: "I just want to say you know, my greatest wish for Euphoria was that it could help heal people. I just want to say thank you to everyone who has shared their story with me. I want you to know that anyone who has loved a Rue or feels like they are a Rue, I want you to know I’m so grateful for your stories and I carry them with me, and I carry them with her."

Other actresses nominated in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series category included Jodie Comer for Killing Eve, Laura Linney for Ozark, Melanie Lynskey for Yellowjackets, Sandra Oh for Killing Eve and Reese Witherspoon for The Morning Show.

Lee was joined at the Los Angeles awards show by his Squid Game co-stars Oh Young-soo, Jung Ho-yeon, Hwang Dong-hyuk, Kim Ji-yeon and Park Hae-soo.

It wasn't Squid Game's only award on the night, as director Hwang Dong-hyuk won the Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for the hit Netflix show.

Jung was nominated for the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series award, and both Oh and Park were nominated for the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series award.

A number of Hollywood heavyweights we nominated for the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series award, including Jason Bateman for Ozark, Brian Cox for Succession, Bob Odenkirk for Better Call Saul, Adam Scott for Severance and Jeremy Strong for Succession.

Ahead of the awards show on Monday night, Succession led the pack with 25 nominations. The satirical drama won a number of nods and Matthew Macfadyen took home the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series award and the show took one of the biggest awards on the night, Outstanding Drama Series.

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Updated: September 13, 2022, 5:38 AM