Peter Dinklage praised the "tolerance and diversity" of the acting "community" as he picked up an Emmy Award on Sunday (22.09.19).
The 50-year-old actor triumphed over his ‘Game of Thrones’ co-stars Alfie Allen and Nikolai Coster-Waldau, as well as ‘Better Call Saul’s Jonathan Banks and Giancarlo Esposito, ‘This Is Us’ actor Chris Sullivan and Michael Kelly from ‘House of Cards’ to pick up the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his performance as Tyrion Lannister in the HBO drama series and used much of his speech to thank showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
He said: "I have no idea what I’m about to say… I count myself so fortunate to be a member of a community that is all about tolerance and diversity, there’s no other place I’d be standing on stage like this.
"I had no idea what I was getting myself into but I knew David and Dan were quite brilliant. It’s been 10 years of absolute sweat, 10 years of the most incredible, talented, funniest… I’ve ever been lucky enough to work with.
"We did nothing but sweat. We did nothing but laugh. I would literally walk through fire and ice for you, literally. And would do it again in a heartbeat."
While Peter won for Supporting Actor, there was disappointment for his co-stars Gwendoline Christie, Sophie Turner, Lena Headey and Maisie Williams as they, along with ‘Killing Eve’s Fiona Shaw, lost out to ‘Ozark’ actress Julia Garner in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series category.
Accepting her trophy at Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater, she said: "I love playing Ruth so much, and every single day I just feel so lucky to be doing this.
"This is so special. I’ll remember this forever."
Jesse Armstrong won Best Writing in a Drama Series for ‘Succession’, beating off competition from those behind ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, ‘Game of Thrones’, ‘Killing Eve’, ‘Better Call Saul’ and ‘Bodyguard’.
He quipped: "Quite a lot of British winners, maybe too many, might want to have a think about those immigration restrictions."