Who is Owen Cooper and what did he say in Emmy speech

Owen Cooper, 15, from Warrington, is the youngest ever male Emmy winner

At the Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday, a North West teenager made history as the youngest male Emmy winner ever.

Owen Cooper, 15, swept to stardom in his first-ever onscreen role in Netflix's Adolescence alongside Stephen Graham - who co-created the series and also won an Emmy for his role in it.

Cooper captivated audiences with his haunting depiction of a young teenager who stabbed his classmate to death, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer even supporting a move for the series to be shown in schools.

So who is Owen Cooper and where did his success stem from?

Owen Cooper's role in Adolescence

Adolescence follows Cooper as a teenager accused of murdering his classmate

Cooper played the central character, 13-year-old schoolboy Jamie Miller, in the four-part drama series set in an unspecified northern English town.

Jamie is accused of murdering a girl from his class in a horrific crime that rocks the community.

The series also follows his family as well as his classmates and the police as they grapple with timely issues including misogyny, social media and the role it plays on school children across the UK.

The four-part series became the most-streamed title in both the UK and the US within the first week of its release, with Erin Doherty also winning an Emmy for her role as a child psychologist in the show.

Stephen Graham

Graham co-created Adolescence with writer and producer Jack Thorne and plays Jamie's father Eddie in the series.

He has said the storyline was inspired by seeing two separate reports of boys stabbing girls to death.

"It really hurt my heart, I just thought, 'what's going on in society where this kind of thing is becoming a regular occurrence?' he told BBC Breakfast.

Cooper and Graham have gone on to praise each other publicly, with Graham telling BBC's The One Show he believed Cooper was "the next Robert De Niro".

Where is Owen Cooper from?

Cooper is from Warrington, but for years had been attending weekly acting classes at the Drama Mob school in Manchester - around 20 miles (32km) away. He was only 14 when Adolescence was filmed.

Drama Mob's Esther Morgan said the show's production team had approached Drama MOB while casting the series, asking to see tapes of their "strongest northern boys".

"They kept coming back for Owen," she said.

Casting director for Adolescence Shaheen Baig said of Cooper's audition tape: "He looks great on camera, but also his improv was really smart.

"It felt very natural."

Stephen Graham and Erin Doherty also won Emmy's for their roles in the show

What did he say in his speech?

In his acceptance speech on Sunday, Cooper said the experience of being on stage at the Emmy Awards was "surreal".

He said: "When I started these drama classes a couple of years back, I didn't expect to even be in the United States, never mind here.

"I think tonight proves if you listen, and you focus and you step out your comfort zone, you can achieve anything in life.

"Who cares if you get embarrassed? Anything can be possible. I was nothing about three years ago, I'm here now."

He also thanked his family, co-stars, and the show's production team, adding: "It may have my name on this award, but it really belongs to the people behind the camera."