Matthew Rhys from Cardiff has secured his place in US TV history with Emmy nominations for Widow’s Bay and The Beast in Me
Cardiff-born actor, Matthew Rhys has made Emmy Award-history by becoming the first male performer to be nominated in all three lead acting categories: Drama, Comedy and Limited Series.
The Welsh star of Widow’s Bay, touted as one of 2026’s best shows, received nods for his lead role on the Apple TV comedy/horror show as well as the Netflix Limited Series, The Beast in Me Opposite Claire Danes.
Rhys is also the first lead actor to score double Emmy nominations since 1995, so the first of the 21st century to do so.
He’s achieved the history-making feat alongside Black Rabbit star, Jason Bateman, who got the nod for his lead performance in the limited series. Bateman has also been nominated Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy for Arrested Development and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama for Ozark.
51-year-old Rhys has already won a lead actor Emmy, in 2018 for his role as Philip Jennings in The Americans and he was also nominated for his Perry Mason drama. For the latest TV and showbiz gossip sign up to our newsletter
Widow’s Bay scored a total of 19 nominations, an impressive feat as the end of the show’s run fell outside the Emmy consideration deadline. The show already has a second run commissioned and is due to start filming in early 2027.
Rhys stars as Tom Loftis, the mayor of a remote(ish) island off the coast of New England with a dark, terrifying secret who wants to ignore said secret and make the desintation a success with tourists. But turns out, he can’t. The series’ conclusion left a huge cliffhanger and so many unanswered questions but us, and Rhys, will have to wait and see how the story unfolds.
The dual genre appeal pulled in Rhys and it’s paid off. The star told WalesOnline ahead of the series one finale last month: “I certainly never done horror comedy. Although some people have said some of my past performances have been horrific and comedic, but for the wrong reasons.
“The challenge of horror comedy was singularly unique, but more than anything, the scripts were just so strong.
“What you see on the screen was what was on the page. And so I immediately knew I wanted to do it. And so, I did. “I just felt the challenge of doing the horror comedy, because that tone is so uniquely difficult to get right. It’s a very thin line of destroying one with the other and so just getting the tone right was as much as a challenge as anything else. [Director] Hiro Murai was a huge draw as was Katie Dippold, obviously, so the team that was set up was just huge and so I jumped at the chance.”
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