At 15, ‘Adolescence’ breakthrough Owen Cooper could set a new Emmys age record
The youngest male actor to win a Primetime Emmy Award is Scott Jacoby, who at 16 years old set an age record in 1973 when he prevailed in Best Drama Supporting Actor for That Certain Summer. Now, 52 years later, that milestone could be broken should Adolescence breakthrough Owen Cooper, age 15, prevail at the 2025 Emmys.
Jacoby continued working until 1991, with his last credited project being Son of Darkness: To Die for II. Comparatively, the youngest female Emmy champs are Roxana Zal (age 14, Best Movie/Limited Supporting Actress, Something About Amelia, 1984) and Kristy McNichol (who was 15 when she won Best Drama Supporting Actress for Family in 1977; she would win again in 1979 at age 17).
In Adolescence, Cooper plays Jamie Miller, a 13-year-old teenage murder suspect, who repeatedly denies stabbing a female schoolmate. Jamie's father, Eddie Miller, played by Stephen Graham, eventually has his own questions about his son's guilt. The four-episode crime drama is co-created and co-written by Graham and Jack Thorne. Each episode is directed by Philip Barantini and filmed in a single take, as viewers follow Jamie's path through the British legal system.
In Cooper's specific category of Best Movie/Limited Series Actor, the age record was set in 1973, by 17-year-old Anthony Murphy for Tom Brown's Schooldays. More than five decades after Murphy's win, that project remains his only acting credit, and he has since found success in Europe as a painter.
On Monday, Cooper's audition tape went viral online, and viewers were stunned by the then-13-year-old's impressive acting chops. "This boy is gonna be a big star," wrote one fan. Added another: "It was the switching between sweet and innocent to angry in the blink of an eye that scared me."
Owen Cooper's audition for the role of Jamie in #Adolescence pic.twitter.com/4ooSyvmeYv
— Netflix UK & Ireland (@NetflixUK) March 24, 2025
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Adolescence has been compared to Baby Reindeer for its spring roll-out on Netflix, its harrowing U.K. subject matter, and its Emmy campaign strategy. That's good company to be in, considering that Baby Reindeer won six Emmys (including three for producer-writer-star Richard Gadd), two Golden Globes, two Critics Choice Awards, and one Screen Actors Guild Award; breakout star Jessica Gunning prevailed at every televised awards show.
After launching with a 100 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 90 score on Metacritic, Adolescence is now in Gold Derby's runner-up position to win the Best Limited Series Emmy, behind only The Penguin. As for Cooper, he is currently in third place to win Best Movie/Limited Actor, with the frontrunners being Colin Farrell (The Penguin) and Kevin Kline (Disclaimer).
Adolescence dropped on March 13 and drew 24.3 million views in its first four days of availability to debut at No. 1 on the Netflix English TV charts. In its second week of release, the show set a new Netflix record with 66.3 million views, the best-ever two-week total for a limited series.
Besides Cooper and Graham, other Adolescence cast members with Emmy nominations in their sights include Erin Doherty as psychologist Briony Ariston, Ashley Walters as Detective Inspector Luke Bascombe, and Christine Tremarco as Jamie's mother Manda Miller.
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