NEED TO KNOW
- The day before the 2025 Emmy Awards, Jake Gyllenhaal surprised his “number one” fan, Adolescence star Owen Cooper
- Cooper, 15, was completely shocked by Gyllenhaal’s arrival — and the thoughtful gift he brought along with him
- Cooper is the youngest actor ever to be nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie
Owen Cooper is the youngest actor to ever be nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie at the Emmys, and he got the ultimate surprise the day before the awards to help his nerves.
Netflix shared a video on X of the 15-year-old Adolescence star as he named Jake Gyllenhaal as the “number one” celebrity he’d love to meet at the 2025 Emmy Awards.
Cooper said that if he were to meet Gyllenhaal, he’d “just stare at him” in awe and not be able to speak.
Gyllenhaal, meanwhile, was making his way to the hotel room where Cooper was filming the video. “Now, like, I’m nervous,” he said as he got ready to surprise the young star. “Like, I feel nervous. I’m excited.”
When Gyllenhaal, 44, walked in unannounced, Cooper was shocked, and all he could say was “Oh my God,” over and over.
He then gave the Presumed Innocent star a big hug, and Gyllenhaal presented Cooper with a thoughtful pre-Emmys gift.
“I have a present for you,” he told Cooper. “I made this movie and I got nominated for an Academy Award, and a friend of mine sent me this before [the show] — something just like this.”
Cooper unwrapped a small ceramic duck, which Gyllenhaal explained is a “lucky duck.”
“To keep in your pocket, to give you a little bit of luck,” he said, referring to Sunday’s awards show, where Cooper is up against his Adolescence costar Ashley Walters as well as Bill Camp, Javier Bardem, Peter Sarsgaard and Rob Delaney.
Cooper shook Gyllenhaal’s hand as he thanked him for the gift, and then Gyllenhaal pointed out one more detail — a personalized engraving on the bottom.
“Oh, wow,” Cooper said. “Thank you. That means a lot.”
After taking a group photo with Cooper and others, Gyllenhaal quipped that he stopped by because the young actor has been “talking about me too much, so I just figured I’d stop it. I’d just stop it and get it done.”
Last month, Cooper spoke to PEOPLE about how much the nomination means to him, as he admitted it hasn’t “even sunk in yet” that he’s included in the prestigious category, let alone that he’s the youngest to ever be recognized. “It’s just crazy, really.”
“It’s my first role — it’ll be the best role of my life,” he said of the hit Netflix series, which also starred Stephen Graham. “It was the best summer of my life to film, and I just can’t wait to be there on the night of the Emmys. I can’t wait.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
See PEOPLE’s full coverage of the 77th annual Primetime Emmy Awards as they’re broadcasting live on CBS and Paramount+ from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
Read the full article here