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Matthew Rhys sets a major record at the 2026 Emmys with ‘Widow’s Bay’ win

Matthew Rhys just became the first actor to win two lead acting Emmys on the same night

Matthew Rhys broke a record at the Emmy Awards. During the 78th Emmy Awards on September 14, the Welsh actor took home two major awards for acting. He took home the Outstanding Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his performance as a shady neighbor, Nile Jarvis, in Netflix’s ‘The Beast in Me.’ The rest of the nominations in the same category included Oscar Isaac, Jason Bateman, Charlie Hunnam, and Riz Ahmed. He then also won his second award of the night, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, for his performance as a clueless mayor, Tom Loftis, in the Apple TV series ‘Widow’s Bay.’

No actor had ever won two lead categories at the same time before. However, two actors had gotten two acting wins on one night previously, but neither had swept the top of the ballot. James Earl Jones won lead drama actor for ‘Gabriel’s Fire’ and supporting actor in a limited series for ‘Heat Wave’ in 1991, and Stockard Channing won two supporting actress trophies in 2002 for ‘The West Wing’ and ‘The Matthew Shepard Story.’ Rhys is the first to win both of the leads.

Well, it was not only a good night for Rhys, but a milestone for him and his career. He has already won his Lead Actor Emmy for drama for ‘The Americans’ in 2018. If you combine the wins from tonight’s comedy and limited series categories, he is the first male to have an achievement in all three categories. There have been three men who were close to the full set, but never got it. Robert Young and Carroll O’Connor won lead actor awards for drama and comedy, while Andre Braugher won for drama and limited series. But tonight, Rhys became the first one to complete the collection, and he did it on the same night.