Tom Pelphrey Wins First Emmy For ‘Task’: “I Knew This Character In My Soul”

Tom Pelphrey is officially an Emmy Award winner. The two-time nominee is taking home the statuette for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of Robbie Prendergast in Brad Ingelsby’s HBO crime drama Task.

While on stage, Pelphrey recognized his “favorite actor in this room, my love, my best friend, my partner, the very pregnant Kaley Cuoco. Cuoco was on the red carpet supporting Pelphrey earlier this evening, opting not to do any interviews. The actress/producer and Pelphrey are parents to a daughter, Matilda, and are currently expecting their second child.

While speaking to the media backstage, Pelphrey noted how becoming a father helped shape his portrayal of Robbie in Season 1.

“The character was a beautiful opportunity to express something that I just learned in my own life, which was becoming a father and how I would do anything for my child. And to get to play a character who would do anything for his children and protect them and provide for them,” he said.

He continued, “This is the magical mystery of what we do when it’s right at the right time: you step into something in your work and in your life as a human being. The timing lines up, and both grow the character and the person, hopefully.”

On Task, Pelphrey’s Robbie is being hunted by Tom Brandis, played by Mark Ruffalo. Prior to their work on the series, the actors had not collaborated professionally.

“There’s a lot of amazing ways to be a good partner, and Mark did all of the silent, kind of invisible things. He knew when to joke and when to be sort of still. He was just so incredibly supportive. There’s a generous spirit within him that just can’t help but make everybody else around him better. It’s a beautiful thing, because not everybody is that way,” Pelphrey shared.