Aziz Ansari scored a monumental win.
The star of Netflix’s “Master Of None” took home the Golden Globe for Best Actor In A Television Series Musical or Comedy on Sunday night. In doing so, he made history as the first male of Asian descent to win a best actor award in a television category.
“I genuinely didn’t think I would win because all the websites said I was going to lose,” Ansari, who’s Indian-American, joked during his acceptance speech.
The actor thanked several people for his win, including his parents, who also appeared on the show and helped illustrate the immigrant experience. He credited them for giving him “so much love.”
Needless to say, Asian-Americans on social media (and their mothers) failed to keep calm about Ansari’s win.
Few actors of Asian descent have won Golden Globes in the acting categories. The handful honored in the past include Yoko Shimada, who won Best Actress in a Television Series Drama in 1980 for “Shōgun.” Sandra Oh took home an award in 2006 for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries, or Motion Picture for TV for “Grey’s Anatomy.” Cambodian gynecologist Haing Somnang Ngor won Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture in 1984 for “The Killing Fields.” Ben Kingsley, who’s of Indian descent, was awarded two Golden Globes in 1983 for his performance in “Gandhi” ― one for Best New Actor and another for Best Actor in a Drama Motion Picture.
Ansari’s win was among several historic moments at this year’s Golden Globes ceremony.
“This Is Us” star Sterling K. Brown became the first black man to win a Golden Globe for Best Actor In Drama TV Series. And Oprah Winfrey became the first black woman to receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award. In accepting it, she touched on the importance of representation for different racial and ethnic groups in such honors.
She recalled her emotions as a young girl of color watching Sidney Poitier win the Oscar for Best Actor in 1964. “I remember his tie was white, and of course his skin was black, and I had never seen a black man being celebrated like that,” she said. “I tried many, many times to explain what a moment like that means to a little girl, a kid watching from the cheap seats as my mom came through the door bone tired from cleaning other people’s houses.”
Noting that Poitier was the recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille in 1982, she added that “it is not lost on me that at this moment, there are some little girls watching as I become the first black woman to be given this same award.”