His triumph at the Emmys made history – but away from the TV screens, Adolescence star Owen Cooper’s life is still far removed from the glamour of Hollywood.
The 15-year-old – due back at school in his home town of Warrington, Cheshire tomorrow after flying back from Los Angeles with his parents – has the acting world at his feet following his acclaimed performance in the Netflix drama.
But the teen acting sensation won’t be taking his Emmy into school – out of fear it will be stolen.
As he held the gong at the official press conference, he was asked if he would be showing it off to his classmates, and replied: ‘This will get robbed in my school. No chance. I am definitely not taking it to school. No, no, no.’
While his salary for the role of schoolboy Jamie Miller, an intelligent, outwardly ordinary, teenage boy accused of murdering a girl in his class, has not been made public, he is thought to have earned less than £40,000 for the four-part mini-series.
The teenager and his parents – carer mother Noreen, 52, and dad Andy, 45, who works in IT – still live in the £135,000 terraced house which has been their home for the past 20 years, with no outward sign of a change in the family’s fortunes.
Brother Ollie, 21, and half-brother Connor, 31, who also joined him at the ceremony, are both electricians.
And now neighbours – some of whom stayed up late to root for him as they watched Sunday’s glittering ceremony – said they were confident that Owen would keep his feet firmly on the ground despite his newfound international fame.
June Shingler, 77, said she let out a cheer when Owen’s name was announced.
‘We watched it on TV,’ she told the Daily Mail. I was like “Oh my God, he only lives next door but one!”.’
She added: ‘I’m really pleased he has won. I don’t think success will change him but I’m hoping he goes on to do other things.
‘Owen is really nice but it is not just him, all the family are nice. His mum and dad have both worked hard.
‘They are a lovely family, they really deserve it. At the end of the day all you want is the best for your children. It is marvellous. Everyone is pleased for them.’
Another neighbour Madeline, 79, said: ‘I’m delighted for him. He is such a lovely boy.
‘I have known him since he was born. He used to call me ‘Nan Mad’ when his mum brought him over.
‘They are a beautiful family. They are brilliant and he is so well grounded.
‘His mum is absolutely wonderful. I am so happy for them.
‘They have brought up a lovely young man. He is very lucky.
‘He has wonderful parents and a wonderful family.
‘It has exploded for him but he has hopefully got a great life in front of him. I wish him all the best.’
Noreen Muneer, 47, said: ‘He is a very nice lad and they are a very nice family. I’m very pleased for him. He is a good lad.’
The young actor flew out to Los Angeles with a bag of homework in tow after he had promised teachers at his high school that he would take his school books.
He revealed on chat show Jimmy Kimmel Live that ‘when I get off set I have a five-minute break, play swingball, and then get straight off to tutoring after that’.
‘I take this bag with me and it’s just full of books and “you must do this, you must do that”,’ he said.
Adolescence also won best limited series, as well as prizes for its directing and writing, and acting gongs for Stephen Graham and Erin Doherty.
While Owen’s earnings from his fledgling acting career may not yet be life-changing, his next role represents a big step up.
Since filming Adolescence, Owen has gone on to star as the young Heathcliff in an upcoming big-screen adaptation of Wuthering Heights featuring A-listers Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi.
The football-mad teenager was cast in the key role in Adolescence from nowhere after training for two years at the Drama MOB school in Manchester.
But he always knew he had a natural talent for acting, as he used to fake being ill to bunk off school.
Owen said: ‘I’ve always just had a creative side to me where when I was little, just faking sick to get off school, that sort of thing where I’m good at it, I can tell my mum’s fuming.
‘But yeah, but I just have the creative side to me. I dunno where it came from, but I’ve been doing it for about four years now.’
Following his Emmys win, Esther Morgan, who runs Drama MOB school with Coronation Street star Tina O’Brien, said: ‘I’m massively proud of Owen, he has worked so hard.
‘But never in a million years did we think one of the young people who came to us would end up collecting an Emmy and be the youngest to do that.
‘It is incredible how far he has come really and I think it is a great message to any other northern talent out there – come and get some good training and there are some huge opportunities for the taking.’
She added: ‘He is absolutely lovely, he is from a really nice family. His mum and dad are just gorgeous. They are really grounded, he is a really down-to-earth boy.
‘He is really likeable. When he came to class everyone got on with him really well.
‘He listens really well, follows direction really well, and he is very, very watchable.’
In his acceptance speech, Owen gave a nod to the acting school as he said: ‘Standing up here is just, wow, it’s just so surreal.
‘When I started these drama classes a couple of years back, I didn’t expect to even be in the United States, never mind here.
‘I think tonight proves if you listen, and you focus and you step out your comfort zone, you can achieve anything in life.
‘Who cares if you get embarrassed? Anything can be possible. I was nothing about three years ago, I’m here now.’
Owen became the youngest male actor to win an Emmy for his performance in the Netflix drama, beating the previous record held by Scott Jacoby, who won an Emmy for That Certain Summer in 1973 aged 16.
Ms Morgan added: ‘In 12 years this is our biggest achievement, and we’re just so, so proud.
‘We started our classes 12 years ago and we just wanted to give kids from the north a chance to perform, we wanted to give them the skills, we wanted to give them opportunities in the industry, and that’s always been our passion, really, providing that to those kids.
‘To see him, a local northern boy, on the stage at the Emmys, it’s just mind-blowing.’
She continued: ‘I knew he was fantastic, I mean, as soon as he came in, I remember watching him in class, and then when he came to join our agency, I remember thinking, ‘Wow, he’s really, really natural, he’s really great’.
‘He’s a really great kid as well, he’s a really lovely, lovely boy, I don’t think in a million years I imagined that he would be where he is now, I don’t think any of us did, but I knew there was something really, really special about him, absolutely.
‘When this opportunity came up for Adolescence, I knew the first time he taped and then they came back for him, and they kept coming back for him and back for him, I knew they really liked him, and I just had this gut feeling that he could do this.
‘I’m just so so proud of him and for his mum and his dad, and his family, it’s just so, so lovely.’
She also praised Owen’s perseverance, saying he had continued attending evening classes every week despite previously being rejected for parts before he finally secured his big break.
Owen admits acting was not a dream career for him, but something he initially did to build up his confidence.
‘I didn’t like dream of being where I am now I just wanted to do it as a hobby,’ he said.
‘And then maybe in six months time I’d stop doing it. But I really enjoyed it. I did it for two years and then Adolescence came along.
‘I had to do self tapes for these small English dramas, butI never got a part from anyone. With Adolescence improvisation was key in those auditions. And that’s what those genre lessons obviously helped with.
‘But it was difficult for me to get in that character in that time because it’s such a dark role. And all I’ve done in these drama lessons is just think of stupid things and put it into a scene. But I just got through it and I just did whatever the director told me to do really.’
