Sterling K. Brown became the first black man to win a Golden Globe for best actor in a TV drama at the awards ceremony on Sunday night (7Jan18).
The This Is Us actor, 41, collected the gong at the ceremony held at the Beverly Hilton hotel, for his role as Randall Pearson in the NBC show. The two-time Emmy winner was honored for his portrayal of a black man who was adopted as a child by a white family.
As well as thanking his castmates, wife Ryan Michelle Bathe, and Oprah Winfrey, he paid tribute to the show’s creator Dan Fogelman for writing the role for a black character.
“Now, Dan Fogelman, throughout the majority of my career, I have benefited from color blind casting — which means, you know what, ‘Hey, let’s throw a brother in this role, right?’ It’s always really cool,” he explained in his acceptance speech. “But Dan Fogelman, you wrote a role for a black man. That could only be played by a black man.
“And so what I appreciate so much about this thing is that I am being seen for who I am and being appreciated for who I am. And that makes it that much more difficult to dismiss me, or dismiss anybody who looks like me. So thank you, Dan.”
The significance of the occasion was not lost on the star, who admitted he was stunned to discover that a black actor had never won the honor before.
“It’s been 75 years and I was the first. I was shocked. I did not know this was the case,” he confessed to Entertainment Tonight (ET). “Hopefully it won’t be another 75 years until somebody else does, but if my presence can open doors and can inspire someone ‘cause it take – you have to see something sometimes first before you can envision for yourself.”
Meanwhile, Aziz Ansari landed another first at the event. Aziz, who won an Emmy with Lena Waithe last year for writing duties on his show Master of None, became the first Asian man to win best actor in a TV comedy.
