Los Angeles:
Jharrel Jerome has two Emmy records to his name — the actor now holds the title as the youngest person and the first Afro-Latino to win the trophy in a limited series acting category for Netflix’s “When They See Us”.
The 21-year-old actor gave a blistering performance in the Ava DuVernay-directed series, based on the 1989 case of Central Park Five.
The four-episode show is based on the case of five teenagers of colour who were wrongly convicted for the rape of a jogger. When they were exonerated many years later, they sued the city for their time in prison.
Jerome played Korey Wise, who, as an adolescent, was wrongfully convicted of the crime, which led to a 14-year incarnation stint.
The overwhelmed actor thanked his parents, DuVernay, and “the Exonerated Five” Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Antron McCray, and Wise who were in attendance at the ceremony and received a standing ovation form them.
“I should be home in the Bronx waiting for my mom’s cooking or something. But I’m here in front of my inspirations, in front of people who I’m so motivated by and the people that I was nominated with in this category,” he said in his acceptance speech.
“But most importantly, this is for the men who we know as ‘the Exonerated Five’,” Jerome said as he went on to name them and received a round of applause from the audience.
“When They See Us”, which started streaming on Netflix from June 12, features Michael K Williams, Vera Farmiga, John Leguizamo, Felicity Huffman, Niecy Nash, Blair Underwood and Christopher Jackson, among others.
