When Matthew Rhys accepted his second Emmy of the night, for best actor in a comedy series for Widow’s Bay, he made history.
The Welsh actor, who earlier Monday night won best actor in a limited series, is now the first performer in history to have won the lead acting Emmy across all three genres, since he won on the drama side back in 2018 for The Americans, and the first man to win two lead-acting trophies in a single night.
In his comedy actor acceptance speech, Rhys echoed comedy supporting actor winner Stephen Root‘s praise for showrunner Katie Dippold, specifically her “depraved and twisted mind.”
“Her genius really does live in the recesses of her disturbed brain,” Rhys said. “[This win] is also because of my hero, [executive producer and director] Hiro Marai, who helmed us so beautifully and deftly.”
He also thanked the executives behind the series, including Apple’s Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, his agent and his sister, who was with him at the Emmys, and “the great and good people of Wales, who were as much a nurturer as anyone else. We are a small but mighty nation.”
Unlike in the limited series category, Rhys was considered the heavy frontrunner here, given Widow’s Bay’s dominance in the nominations. He beat out four fellow former nominees in Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Wonder Man), Steve Carell (Rooster), Jason Segel (Shrinking) and Martin Short (Only Murders in the Building).
Widow’s Bay was the word-of-mouth sensation that no one saw coming this past spring, as Apple TV’s inventive horror-comedy first took critics by storm and then built in buzz with viewers week over week. Rhys’s performance as the hapless Tom Loftis, mayor of a New England island town that he really hopes is not haunted as tourists start arriving in droves, drew raves for its combination of slapstick physicality and emotional range. It’s the underdog in the best-comedy race opposite returning winner Hacks (competing for its final season) and already cleaned up at least week’s Creative Arts awards, including a first-ever Emmy win for guest star Betty Gilpin.
“When I first read it, I was like, ‘What the fuck is this? I’ve never read anything like this, and I’ve certainly never played anything remotely like this,’” Rhys told The Hollywood Reporter of Widow’s Bay earlier this year. “When I got on my first Zoom with Hiro, he just said, ‘Look, we’re not making a comedy. We’re not making horror. We’re just going to create a real world with real people that have real backstories — and we’ll play it for real.’”
This led into a finale that featured some of the most intensely dramatic material of the actor’s career: “I’m coming off the back of Beast in Me, and I was like, ‘This feels heavier than that!’” Rhys recalled. “But the drama becomes magnified and far richer as a result of it.”
Widow’s Bay has been renewed for a second season. Rhys also shared in Widow’s Bay‘s best comedy series win, as an executive producer on the show.
Speaking backstage in the Emmys’ press room, the actor joked that Dippold had her eye on the prize from the first day.
“Katie, on the first day of filming, said if we don’t win enough Emmys to sink a fucking ship,” Rhys quipped.
He later added, “I thought I was signing up for the company, and then the finale, I was like, this is the hardest I’ve worked for a very long time, and it’s exhausting.”
The 2026 Emmys aired live on Monday from the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live in Los Angeles. Mariska Hargitay hosted. See the red carpet looks here.
Hilary Lewis contributed to this report.