(Credit: Netflix)

At this point, it almost feels like Adolescence, the day it lit Netflix with its presence, also decided to collect trophies the way the rest of us collect tabs on our browser. The limited series was brilliant, the most critically acclaimed piece of content from 2025, and with that, it has once again made history.

Sunday night’s Golden Globes gave us a moment that wasn’t just another win but was a record-breaking, history-making, everyone-on-their-feet kind of moment. Sixteen-year-old Owen Cooper, yes, sixteen, just became the youngest winner ever for Best Supporting Actor in a TV series. And honestly, you could feel the whole room sit up and realise that they had just watched a turning point.

Because this wasn’t just about being young. This was about being undeniable. When the second Owen Cooper took the role of Jamie Miller, aka a grieving, closed-off, accused teenager at the centre of Adolescence, it started feeling like a performance that would be studied years later. Can you imagine it was his first camera appearance?

And he did a fabulous job portraying the role of a boy who was emotional but wasn’t begging for sympathy. It would’ve only worked if the actor playing it understood that every silence is doing more than the lines. And Owen understood. He did more than deliver a scene. He carried a whole show built on pain and guilt on his sixteen-year-old shoulders.

And if the Golden Globe wasn’t enough, let’s not forget that he also won the 2025 Emmy for “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series”, becoming the youngest male acting winner in Emmy history. Let that sit with you for a second. One year, one role, two major awards. And somewhere in between that, he picked up a Critics’ Choice Award too. If this is what the start looks like, we’re going to need a much bigger awards shelf.

The best part? The speech is over-rehearsed soundbites. He just stood there, visibly overwhelmed, and said what felt true and that this doesn’t feel real, that he is grateful, that drama class used to be embarrassing, and now here he is, making history. He called out his family, his teachers, and the people who gave him a shot, and you could see actors twice his age tearing up because it was the kind of moment people wait their whole careers for.

It is also worth remembering how stacked this category was. He was up against actors from The Morning Show, The White Lotus, Severance, and Adolescence itself. Some of the best in television right now. But the win wasn’t shocking. It felt earned. The camera stayed on him longer. The show slowed down for his scenes. And the more it went on, the more you realised: Adolescence wasn’t just a success; it was a showcase. And Owen Cooper was the reason.

He didn’t just win. He made everyone remember what it looks like when someone absolutely deserves it. Just a kid who acted his heart out. And won.