Lee Jung-jae of Squid Game is the first Asian to win best drama actor at the Emmy Awards

Lee Jung-jae of Squid Game is the first Asian celebrity to receive the Emmy for best male actor in a drama.

The South Korean won for portraying Seong Gi-hun, the title character in the popular Netflix series, in his increasingly desperate state.

 

Hwang Dong-hyuk, the show's creator and the first Asian to do so, took home the award for best drama series director.

For the second year in a row, Ted Lasso was named best comedy series, and Succession was named outstanding drama.

 

In his acceptance speech at the year's most prestigious award ceremony for the US television industry, the British creator of the drama, Jesse Armstrong, made fun of the monarchy.

"It's a big week for successions - new King in the UK, this for us," he joked. "Evidently a bit more voting was involved in our winning than Prince Charles."

"Keep it royalist, keep it royalist," the show's star Brian Cox, who was also on stage, told him after the audience went fairly quiet.

Armstrong then added: "I'm not saying that we're any more legitimate in our position than he is. We'll leave that to other people."