Owen Cooper has become one of the most decorated young actors in history after completing his awards season clean sweep at Sunday’s BAFTA TV Awards.
The Adolescence star, 16, still has a busy few weeks ahead though, as he is also in the middle of his GCSE exams, with the 2026 exam period running from May 4 until June 26.
The teenager was sitting his mock papers in January during the height of awards season, juggling the exams with travelling to the US to pick up gongs.
And after a glitzy night at London’s Royal Festival Hall, he will be back at school in Warrington, Cheshire this week.
On Sunday the young star attended the final awards ceremony for the hit Netflix show, where he triumphed in the Best Supporting Actor category.
Owen’s performance, playing murder suspect Jamie Miller opposite Stephen Graham, has earned him critical praise and earlier this year he made history by becoming the youngest winner of the Best Supporting Actor award at both the Golden Globes and the Emmy Awards.
Owen Cooper has become one of the most decorated young actors in history after completing his awards season clean sweep at Sunday’s BAFTA TV Awards
The Adolescence star, 16, still has a busy few weeks ahead though, as he is also in the middle of his GCSE exams, with the 2026 exam period running from May 4 until June 26; Pictured with his parents at Noreen and Andy at the BAFTAs
The actor has won an acting gong at all of the major American TV awards – the Emmys, Golden Globes and Critics Choice as well as the Gotham Awards and the Independent Spirit Awards and the National Television Awards in the UK.
Now with a BAFTA under his belt, he has become one of the most decorated young actors at just 16 years old, and for his first ever acting role.
Owen was just 14 when Adolescence was filmed, receiving tutoring on set so he could keep up with his schoolwork.
And during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show in December Owen explained how he plans to sit his GCSEs and then leave school.
‘I’ve still got my GCSEs to do. I’ve only got about six months left and then I am gone – and then hopefully I am going to be an actor,’ he said.
In September 2025 though Owen confessed that school was going ‘terribly’ adding that his least favourite subject is maths.
‘When you’re sitting at the Emmys and you’re with all these famous actors, are you thinking, “Do I really need to know algebra?”,’ US talk show host Jimmy Kimmel asked him.
‘That’s what I think about every morning before I go to school,’ Owen replied. ‘Because I want to pass, I don’t want to fail, but…’
Owen’s performance, playing murder suspect Jamie Miller opposite Stephen Graham, has earned him critical praise and multiple gongs
The teenager was sitting his mock papers in January during the height of awards season, juggling the exams with travelling to the US to pick up gongs
On Sunday the young star attended the final awards ceremony for the hit Netflix show, where he triumphed in the Best Supporting Actor category
Owen was just 14 when Adolescence was filmed, receiving tutoring on set so he could keep up with his schoolwork
‘If you fail, who cares?’ Kimmel said. ‘You got a leather jacket already, you’re a punk!’
Adolescence received a staggering 11 nominations going into Sunday night’s BAFTA TV Awards, and the most ever wins for a series.
Stephen Graham was awarded Best Actor. The actor, 52, revealed he has been nominated eight times for shows including Help, Time and This Is England ’90 , before finally landing the gong for Adolescence.
Meanwhile, Christine Tremarco, who played Owen’s mother in the show, won Best Supporting Actress in a surprise result beating co-star Erin Doherty, who previously took home the Golden Globe and Emmy Award.
The Netflix series also won in the Limited Drama category, beating the shows: Fought The Law (ITV), Trespasses (Channel 4) and What It Feels Like For A Girl (BBC Three).
