# Matthew Rhys Becomes the First Man to Win Two Lead Acting Emmys in One Night > Rhys took home Lead Actor in a Limited Series for The Beast in Me and Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for Widow's Bay, earning a standing ovation for his second trophy. - Source: Star Life - Canonical URL: https://starlife.channel/article/matthew-rhys-double-emmy-win-widows-bay - Author: Devon Ruiz - Section: Film & TV - Published: 2026-09-15T09:30:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-15T09:30:00.000Z - Tags: Matthew Rhys, Emmys, Widow's Bay, Keri Russell --- The Widow's Bay cast showed up to the 2026 Emmys with the show holding 19 nominations, and Matthew Rhys left with a piece of history. He won Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for The Beast in Me, then returned later in the night to win Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for Widow's Bay, making him the first man ever to take home two lead acting Emmys in a single ceremony. He got a standing ovation collecting the second trophy and waved off the applause at the microphone. ## A night shared with Keri Russell Rhys walked the carpet earlier in a sharp suit and bow tie alongside his longtime partner Keri Russell, who was nominated herself for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for The Diplomat. Both said in earlier interviews that they learned of their nominations together, with Russell turning to Rhys in disbelief before realizing he had been nominated too. ## A big night for the whole cast Fellow Widow's Bay stars Kate O'Flynn and Stephen Root also picked up wins, with Root taking Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and O'Flynn winning Outstanding Supporting Actress in the same category over co-star Dale Dickey, who was also nominated. The show had already collected eight awards at the Creative Arts Emmys earlier in September and remains up for Outstanding Comedy Series overall. O'Flynn described first hearing about her nomination as feeling like an ostrich, saying she put her head in the sand and then celebrated with champagne, while Dickey said she found out by scrolling the Television Academy's website and stumbling on her own name completely out of nowhere. --- Originally published by Star Life. Free to cite with attribution and a link to https://starlife.channel/article/matthew-rhys-double-emmy-win-widows-bay.