Steven Yeun reflected on what he had learned from his 'Beef' character when he picked up the Outstanding Lead Actor In A Limited Series Or TV Movie Emmy Award on Monday (15.01.24).
Steven Yeun at the Emmy Awards
The 40-year-old actor paid tribute to the show's on-set photographer, Andrew Cooper, for giving him a pep talk when he was finding it difficult to "lie in the skin" of his alter ego, Danny Cho, as he accepted the accolade ahead of Taron Egerton ( ‘Black Bird’ ), Kumail Nanjiani (‘Welcome to Chippendales’), Evan Peters (‘Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story’), Daniel Radcliffe (‘Weird: The Al Yankovic Story’) and Michael Shannon (‘George and Tammy’).
He said: "Thank you for this immense honour and blessing.
"I have a lot of people to thank, a lot of people that looked out for me to even get to be in this business.
"I want to thank [Lee Sung Jin], Ali [Wong] Jake [Schreier, director], our incredible cast and crew. Thank you to a24 and Netflix, to Mike and Peter.
"I wanna thank Andrew Cooper for talking to me one night, our incredible on set photographer, a legend. There were days when it was difficult to lie in Danny's skin, sometimes I wanted to judge him or make fun of him but he pulled me aside and said, 'Never bail on Danny'. Thanks.
"I want to say thank you to Danny for teaching me that judgement and shame is a lonely place but compassion and grace is where we can all meet.
"I'm grateful to my wife Jo, thank you always. Jude, Ruth, mom, dad, Brian, family, I love you. Thank you."
Steven's co-star Ali Wong then followed him on stage at Los Angeles' Peacock Theatre as she picked up the Outstanding Lead Actress In A Limited Series Or TV Movie accolade for her portrayal of Amy Lau, and she grew emotional as she dedicated her win to her daughters.
She said: "I really have to of course thank Sunny and Steven and Jake, the rest of the incredible talented cast and crew of Beef. I wouldn't be standing here without my parents, my amazing parents.
"My mother and my father, who I so wish was alive to share this moment with me, my hilarious father who loved me unconditionally and taught me the value of failure."
She then choked up as she added: "To my beautiful daughters, you are my everything and thank you for inspiring me. This is for you."
Ali won the award ahead of Lizzy Caplan (‘Fleishman is in Trouble’), Jessica Chastain (‘George and Tammy’), Dominique Fishback (‘Swarm’), Kathryn Hahn (‘Tiny Beautiful Things’), and Riley Keough (‘Daisy Jones and the Six’).
And 'Beef's successful evening continued when the show was then named Outstanding Limited/Anthology Series ahead of ‘Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story’, ‘Daisy Jones and the Six’, ‘Fleishman is in Trouble’ and ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’.
Creator Lee Sung Jin - who had already picked up Outstanding Directing For A Limited or Anthology Series or Movie and Outstanding Writing For A Limited or Anthology Series or Movie earlier in the evening - accepted the award on behalf of everyone who worked on the show.
He said in part: "Thank you, you know, a lot of the suicidal ideation in this show was based on stuff that I struggled with over the years so I'm really grateful and humbled for everyone who watched the show and reached out about their own personal struggles, it's very life-affirming."
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