Steven Yeun Thanks His ‘Beef’ Character During Emmy Win: Danny Taught Me ‘Judgment and Shame Is a Lonely Place’

Steven Yeun won the Emmy for lead actor in a limited series or movie for “Beef,” marking his first win.

While accepting his award a visibly moved Yeun thanked the series creator, director and fellow Emmy-winner Lee Sung Jin, Emmy-winner Ali Wong and director Jake Schreier and the “incredible” cast and crew at “Beef.”

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“Thank you for this immense honor and blessing,” Yeun said. “A lot of people that looked out for me on my way to even get to be in this business.”

The actor then called special attention to “Beef” on-set photographer. “I want to thank Andrew Cooper for talking to me one night. Our incredible on-set photographer, a legend. There were days when it was difficult to live in Danny’s skin. Sometimes I wanted to judge him. Sometimes I wanted to make fun of him. He pulled me aside and he’s like, ‘Never bail on Danny.'”

Yeun continued, “I want to say thank you to Danny for teaching me that judgment and shame is a lonely place, but compassion and grace is where we can all meet.”

Yeun stars opposite fellow Emmy winner Wong in “Beef,” about a road rage incident that escalates into a drawn-out feud between their two characters. While Wong portrays wealthy business owner Amy Lau, Yeun’s Danny Cho is a contractor struggling to make ends meet.

For Variety’s Actors on Actors, Yeun told “The Last of Us” star Pedro Pascal about the experience of getting into his “Beef” character.

“I really look inward. ‘Where am I? Where is the part of me that deeply understands this person? Where is my Danny? Where is that part of me that feels isolated or alone or cringe or gross or whatever?’ I would walk up to set every day being like, ‘Fuck, I’ve got to do what? I’ve got to get dropped from a tree?’ And everybody’s just watching, and I look pathetic,” he said.

Yeun previously won for “Beef” at the Golden Globe Awards, in addition to earning a SAG nod. “Beef” received 13 Emmy nominations.

Yeun won the Emmy over Taron Egerton (“Black Bird”), Kumail Nanjiani (“Welcome to Chippendales”), Evan Peters (“Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”), Daniel Radcliffe (“Weird: The Al Yankovic Story”) and Michael Shannon (“George & Tammy”).

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