Alexander Skarsgard wins for Big Little Lies: 'Thank you for making this boy feel like one of the girls'

Alexander Skarsgård won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie at the 69th annual ceremony Sunday night, for his role as Perry Wright in HBO’s Big Little Lies.

“Thank you to HBO, all my friends and lovers,” the actor said as he accepted his award (just after costar Nicole Kidman gave him an excited congratulatory kiss). “[To] the ladies of the show, thank you for making this boy feel like one of the girls.”

The True Blood alum went on to thank his mother for coming in from Stockholm, Sweden, to accompany him to the awards. “And thanks for giving birth to me. that was pretty cool as well,” he said.

The star kicked off his speech saying, “That was pretty cool,” in reference to the 9 to 5 reunion trio — Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, and Jane Fonda — who presented the award.

Fellow nominees in the category included Michael K. Williams and Bill Camp of The Night Of, Alfred Molina and Stanley Tucci of Feud: Bette and Joan, and David Thewlis of Fargo.

This marks Skarsgård’s first Emmy win and nomination. His portrayal of the abusive husband of Celeste (Nicole Kidman) in HBO’s adaptation of the Liane Moriarty mystery novel was vexing for audiences, and himself. “I thought it was fascinating that he was a good dad, loves his kids, and adores his wife,” he told EW earlier this year. “On the surface, they have a perfect life and then he’s struggling with these demons and he doesn’t know how to handle that. It’s almost like a switch flips and he goes black and he goes violent.”

View the full Emmys 2017 winners list here.