Actor Awards 2026: Owen Cooper dethrones Kate Winslet to become youngest-ever winner
Owen Cooper has won big at the Actor Awards this year to dethrone Kate Winslet‘s long-standing record as the youngest-ever winner.
The 16-year-old actor took home the award for ‘Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series’. He is now the youngest winner in the category’s history.
Cooper wasn’t in attendance at the ceremony; the award was therefore collected on his behalf by Damson Idris and Yerin Ha. The pair joked about Cooper’s absence, “Owen couldn’t be here, so I’ll be taking this home — thank you.”
Thanks to his win for the Netflix drama Adolescence, Cooper has eclipsed Winslet, who previously won a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award at age 20 for her performance in the 1995 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility.
SAG has now changed its name to the Actor Awards to reflect, in its own terms, “its true spirit and position as the only industry honour given to actors, by actors.”
This isn’t the first record Cooper has broken. Earlier this year, he made history at the Golden Globes as the youngest ever winner of the ‘Male Actor in a Supporting Role on Television’ category. He also beat the record set by 20-year-old Chris Colfer in 2010 for his role in Glee.
Kristen Bell hosted this year’s Actor Award Ceremony. At the ceremony, which took place on March 1st, Harrison Ford took home the ‘Life Achievement Award’, delivering a heartfelt speech in honour of the award.
Michael B Jordan, Jessie Buckley, and the late Catherine O’Hara were the biggest winners at the March 1st ceremony. Notably, Jordan beat out the hotly predicted favourite Timothée Chalamet for the ‘Best Lead Male Actor’ award.
Cooper’s latest project included a starring role as young Heathcliff in Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights, which also featured Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie.
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