Video courtesy of Entertainment Weekly. 

Riz Ahmed made history by coming the first actor of South Asian descent to win an Emmy for HBO’s The Night Of, and the second Asian star to ever win an Emmy — following Archie Panjabi for The Good Wife in 2010.

His gratitude was clear in his acceptance speech: “Wow. This is a tremendous honor to be recognized along so many actors who I’ve watched for so long. If this show has shown a light on some of the prejudice in our society, some of the injustice in our justice system, then maybe that’s something.”

He also thanked James Gandolfini: “He’s a man who I believe single-handedly changed television and I hope he’s proud of us.”

He also spoke to Entertainment Weekly about the experience filming The Night Of: “It was an endurance test. It was quite emotionally and physically draining work. But I just caught the slightest glimpse of what it would be like to be a prisoner, as an actor who got to go home every day, and I found it extremely difficult. I can’t even begin to think what it must be like for people who live in that situation. Just experiencing that for eight months and to shoot for eight months was new for me. So the fact that the most challenging project for me has also been probably the most prominent and successful, certainly in America, that’s satisfying.”