Michael Keaton nabbed a statue Monday night for lead actor in a limited or anthology series during the 74th Emmy Awards. Keaton won for his work as Dr. Sammuel Finnix in ‘Dopesick’, a Hulu miniseries chronicling America’s opioid crisis from just about every angle.
It didn’t take long for Keaton to reference his Western Pennsylvania roots during his acceptance speech.
“My folks weren’t exactly patrons of the arts,” he said on the Emmys stage. “We weren’t patrons of anything, frankly. But I want to thank them. I just want to thank all those people in my family for never making me feel foolish, because I went on to do that several times myself.
“That’s the thing about feeling foolish and making a fool of yourself and making mistakes — there’s huge power and merit in that. I’m glad I made a fool of myself over and over and over again.”
Keaton told the Post-Gazette last year that as far as he was concerned, his “Dopesick” character” was a yinzer despite working in a tiny Virginia mountain town.
“I’m not really far away from this world in southwestern Pennsylvania,” he said. “When I was a kid, I grew up and could be in West Virginia in 15 minutes. It was just as easy to make him from southwest or central Pennsylvania or that part of the world as anywhere else.”
This was Keaton’s first Emmy victory but not the first time he was nominated for one of the big four awards: Emmys, Grammys, Oscars or Tonys. He was nominated for a 2015 best actor Academy Award for his work in “Birdman,” which went on to win best picture that year. He was also a major part of the ensemble of “Spotlight,” which won best picture at the 2016 Oscars.
