Cardiff-born actor Matthew Rhys has made Emmy Award history by becoming the first male performer to be nominated in all three lead acting categories: Drama, Comedy and Limited Series. The Welsh star earned nods for his lead role on Apple TV's comedy/horror series Widow's Bay and the Netflix Limited Series The Beast in Me, opposite Claire Danes.
Historic Achievement
Rhys is also the first lead actor to score double Emmy nominations since 1995, making him the first of the 21st century to achieve this feat. He shares this history-making milestone with Black Rabbit star Jason Bateman, who received a nomination for his lead performance in a limited series. Bateman has previously been nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy for Arrested Development and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama for Ozark.
The 51-year-old Rhys previously won a lead actor Emmy in 2018 for his role as Philip Jennings in The Americans and was also nominated for his performance in Perry Mason.
Widow's Bay Success
Widow's Bay scored a total of 19 Emmy nominations, an impressive feat given that the end of the show's run fell outside the Emmy consideration deadline. The series has already been commissioned for a second season, with filming set to begin in early 2027.
Rhys stars as Tom Loftis, the mayor of a remote island off the coast of New England with a dark, terrifying secret. His character wants to ignore the secret and make the destination a success with tourists, but finds he cannot. The series' conclusion left a huge cliffhanger with many unanswered questions.
Horror Comedy Challenge
The dual genre appeal drew Rhys to the project. He told WalesOnline ahead of the series one finale: "I certainly never done horror comedy. Although some people have said some of my past performances have been horrific and comedic, but for the wrong reasons."
"The challenge of horror comedy was singularly unique, but more than anything, the scripts were just so strong. What you see on the screen was what was on the page. And so I immediately knew I wanted to do it. And so, I did."
"I just felt the challenge of doing the horror comedy, because that tone is so uniquely difficult to get right. It's a very thin line of destroying one with the other and so just getting the tone right was as much as a challenge as anything else. Director Hiro Murai was a huge draw as was Katie Dippold, obviously, so the team that was set up was just huge and so I jumped at the chance."
