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| Lee You-mi poses in the press room with the award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for "Squid Game" on the second night of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, Sunday (local time). AP-Yonhap |
By Lee Gyu-lee
Netflix's smash-hit Korean original series "Squid Game" has become the first non-English series to win an Emmy award, notching four awards at this year's Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, Sunday (local time).
The award winnings have boosted an optimistic outlook for the show's win at the main event of the awards, set to be held on Sept. 12, for which the Korean drama is nominated in another six categories.
Actress Lee You-mi, who played Ji-yeong in the series' episode "Gganbu," has won Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, making history as the first Korean and first actor with nationality of an Asian country to win an Emmy.
"Thank you so much for this huge honor," Lee said in her acceptance speech for her win. "I want to give my thanks to the TV Academy, especially a big thanks to my Netflix team as well."
She beat out fellow nominees in the category, which included Martha Kelly in HBO's "Euphoria," Marcia Gay Harden in Apple TV+'s "The Morning Show" and Sanaa Lathan in HBO's "Succession."
"Holding (the trophy) now, it feels very heavy which feels like a sense of heavy responsibilities as an actress. And I want to be able to do more with it moving forward," Lee told reporters at the ceremony backstage.
The Korean series also took home three more trophies in Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary Program (One Hour or More) with the episode "Gganbu," Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Single Episode with the episode "VIPS," and Outstanding Stunt Performance with the episode "Stick to the Team."
The Creative Arts Emmy Awards is a two-day ceremony, where the winners of technical awards are announced. It leads up to the main Primetime Emmy Awards, which will award its biggest prizes like best drama series, and best actor and actress.
"Squid Game" will be racing for six of the main prizes at the main awards ceremony, including the Best Drama Series. It is the first time for a non-English-language series to get a nomination in the category.
The series will compete with "Better Call Saul," "Euphoria," "Ozark," "Severance," "Stranger Things," "Succession" and "Yellowjackets."
Director Hwang Dong-hyuk is also nominated for Outstanding Directing and Writing for a Drama Series.
Actor Lee Jung-jae has earned nominations for Best Actor, Park Hae-soo and O Yeong-su for Best Supporting Actor and Jung Ho-yeon for Best Supporting Actress.
The nine-part thriller series, about a group of people playing deadly rounds of children's games to win prize money, stirred an enormous global sensation after its release in September last year.
It has been sweeping awards locally and internationally, making historical wins such as actor O's Best Supporting Actor at this year's Golden Globe Award and two acting prizes at the Screen Actors Guild Awards for actors Lee Jung-jae and Jung.
