Teenage actor Owen Cooper will make Emmys history tonight, experts predict – before jumping on a plane so he’s back in school on Wednesday.
The 15-year-old Adolescence star has been given a week off by teachers at his Warrington secondary school so he can jet to Hollywood for the big night.
But it means even if he becomes the toast of Tinseltown tonight, he’ll be back studying for next summer’s GCSE exams barely 48 hours later.
If Owen wins he will be the youngest male winner of a primetime Emmy – TV’s equivalent of the Oscars – in the event’s 77-year history, knocking 257 days off the record. The show gets underway at 5pm local time (1am in the UK).
Part of the build-up included an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, where he joked with the host about his schoolmates’ reaction to his fame and whether they’d be glued to TVs tonight rooting for him to win.
‘They’re not staying up until four in the morning,’ Owen said. ‘They wouldn’t watch it anyway to be fair. They’ve all watched [Adolescence] but they’re not really bothered.’
And he said it was a tough turnaround for him. ‘I’m back in school on Wednesday,’ he told Kimmel. ‘I was in on Tuesday.’
Teenage actor Owen Cooper will make Emmys history tonight, experts predict – before jumping on a plane so he’s back in school on Wednesday (Seen on Jimmy Kimmel on Friday)
Owen Cooper as Jamie Miller with Erin Doherty as Briony Ariston in Adolescence episode three
The 15-year-old Adolescence star has been given a week off by teachers at his Warrington secondary school so he can jet to Hollywood for the big night (Seen at Netflix’s Emmys Toast in California on Friday)
He said school was going ‘terribly’ but he had a bag of homework with him in LA that he had to take back to Warrington after the trip, even for his least favourite subject of maths.
‘When you’re sitting at the Emmys and you’re with all these famous actors, are you thinking, “Do I really need to know algebra?”,’ Kimmel asked him.
‘That’s what I think about every morning before I go to school,’ Owen replied. ‘Because I want to pass, I don’t want to fail, but…’
‘If you fail, who cares?’ Kimmel said. ‘You got a leather jacket already, you’re a punk!’
The youngster was the toast of pre-Emmy parties in Hollywood on Friday night, accompanied by his mother Noreen, a carer, and father Andy, who works in IT.
Cooper said: ‘I will never forget this for the rest of my life. If I break the record that would be cool. It’s all next level. This time last year I didn’t know what I’d be doing.
‘Never could I have believed that this show would change my life in the way that it has.’
And experts across the showbiz world say it will be the shock of the year if he loses.
If Owen wins he will be the youngest male winner of a primetime Emmy – TV’s equivalent of the Oscars (Seen with Adolescence cast on Saturday at BAFTA TV Tea Party)
Part of the build-up included an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, where he joked with the host about his schoolmates’ reaction to his fame
Owen Cooper and Stephen Graham in Adolescence episode one, as Jamie is quizzed by police
The youngster was the toast of pre-Emmy parties in Hollywood on Friday night, accompanied by his mother Noreen, a carer, and father Andy, who works in IT (Seen on Saturday)
At award-prediction gurus Gold Derby, a panel of experts agreed Owen’s win was ‘one of the locks of the night’.
More than 2,600 people have given their predictions on the site and nearly 98% of them have Owen taking home the trophy for his portrayal of 13-year-old murder suspect Jamie Miller.
The site’s senior editor Marcus James Dixon said: ‘Owen Cooper, 15 years old, he’s going to break the record that was set by Scott Jacoby who was 16 years old [in 1973].
‘No male actor, or any male, has ever won a primetime Emmy at 15 years old. So that’ll be an interesting speech, I hope he has a good one planned cos he’s going to be winning.’
His colleague Denton Davidson added: ‘This is one of the easiest to call. I have nothing to add but “congratulations Owen”.’
Hosting the site’s Awards Magnet podcast, deputy editor Ethan Alter joked: ‘I’d say drinks are on him but he can’t legally buy them in this country.’
The Emmy would take pride of place on a shelf in Owen’s bedroom alongside the National Television Award he won last week. He couldn’t collect that one in person as he was en route to LA with his mum Noreen and dad Andy, to prepare for the Emmys.
The Netflix show, which smashed viewing records when it was released in March, is tipped to take home an armful of awards from tonight’s ceremony.
Stephen Graham and Christine Tremarco are also nominated for Emmys for their roles as Jamie’s parents Eddie and Manda Miller (pictured on the show with Amelie Pease playing Jamie’s sister Lisa)
Erin Doherty is favourite to win Best Supporting Actress for her role as Briony Ariston
As well as Owen and Top Boy star Ashley in Best Supporting Actor, Erin Doherty is nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her performance as child psychologist Briony Ariston opposite Owen in episode three.
Gold Derby have her as favourite to win, but suggest Dying For Sex’s Jenny Slate could provide an upset. Christine Termarco, who played Jamie’s mother Manda in Adolescence, is another nominee in the category.
Stephen Graham, who played Jamie’s father Eddie Miller, is up for Best Actor. We revealed in March how Netflix bosses had put Stephen into Best Actor and Owen into Best Supporting Actor in what was called a ‘genius move’ to maximise both’s chances of winning.
It was thought industry veteran Stephen would have a better chance of beating heavy Best Actor favourite Colin Farrell, who is still tipped to win for The Penguin.
But Stephen is unlikely to go home empty-handed, as he’s predicted to win for co-creating and co-writing the series along with screenwriter Jack Thorne.
The show’s director Philip Barantini should also take home the Best Director award, Gold Derby predicted, after the series won Best Cinematography for Matthew Lewis and Best Casting for Shaheen Baig at last weekend’s creative Emmys.
History could be made across the board in Los Angeles tonight with Misery legend Kathy Bates, now 77, given a great chance of becoming the oldest woman to take home an Emmy, for her role of Madeline Matlock in the CBS show Matlock.
And after taking home nine creative Emmys last week, Apple TV’s The Studio needs just two more tonight to break The Bear’s all-time record haul for a comedy. It’s likely to smash through that mark, with Seth Rogen alone tipped to win an unprecidented four, as best director, producer, actor and writer in a comedy series.
Scott Jacoby, front, with Martin Sheen (left) and Hal Holbrook in 1972’s ABC TV drama That Certain Summer
Scott, right, won his Emmy for That Certain Summer, which he starred in alongside Martin Sheen, left, and Hal Holbrook, centre
The record Owen is predicted to break, youngest male Emmy winner ever, is currently held by Scott Jacoby, who was 16 years 175 days old in 1973 when he won his Best Supporting Actor in a Drama award for ABC’s That Certain Summer.
He played Nick Salter, a boy struggling to cope with his father coming out as gay, in a TV film lauded for being the first on US screens to treat homosexuality in a sympathetic manner.
Tonight’s Emmys are screening on Paramount+ in the US, but no UK broadcaster has picked up the rights. You can follow all the action right here instead with the Daily Mail’s liveblog.
