Green light! Squid Game star Lee Jung-jae just made Emmys history

Lee Jung-jae has made Emmys history — in more ways than one.

The Squid Game star won the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series during Monday's ceremony, making him the first winner in the category to come from a non-English show, as well as the first Asian man to take home the gold. He beat out fellow nominees Bob Odenkirk for Better Call Saul, Jason Bateman for Ozark, Jeremy Strong for Succession, Adam Scott for Severance, and Brian Cox for Succession.

"First I'd like to thank God above," Lee said in his acceptance speech. "Thank you to the Television Academy. Thank you to Netflix. Thank you to Director Hwang [Dong-hyuk] for making realistic problems we all face come to life so creatively and with a great script and amazing visuals." He continued his speech in Korean to thank the rest of the Squid Game team.

Earlier in the night, Hwang won Outstanding Directing For a Drama Series, beating Jason Bateman for Ozark; Ben Stiller for Severance; Karyn Kusama for Yellowjackets; and Mark Mylod, Cathy Yan, and Lorene Scarfaria for Succession.

While Netflix's hit Korean survival drama already made history as the first foreign-language series to be nominated for Outstanding Drama Series, it ultimately lost the grand prize to Succession.

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