Egyptian-American Rami Malek wins best drama actor Emmy

Egyptian-American actor Rami Malek has won the Emmy Award winner for best actor in a drama series for his role in “Mr. Robot,” in which he plays a hacker recruited by an anarchist into a conspiracy to wipe out all consumer debt.

The second season of “Mr. Robot” is currently airing and the critically acclaimed series has been a springboard for Malek’s career. This is his first Emmy win.

Malek, who is of Egyptian origin, beat out Kevin Spacey in House of Cards among other notable names.

Meanwhile, Maggie Smith won the award for best drama supporting actress for her role on “Downton Abbey.”

It is Smith’s fourth Emmy win and her third for playing the Dowager Countess of Grantham on the series, which aired for six seasons on PBS.

She did not appear at Sunday’s ceremony and host Jimmy Kimmel had joked early in the show that all winners would have to be present to receive their awards.

Although US presidential hopeful Donald Trump was not at the awards show, he was mentioned by many a star.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, accepting her fifth consecutive best actress Emmy for HBO’s “Veep,” jokingly lamented that real politics is beginning to resemble the Washington world her comedy series pokes fun at.

“Our show started out as political satire,” she said, “but now it feels like a sober documentary.”

She promised to rebuild the wall between comedy and politics and “make Mexico pay for it.”

Yes, Donald Trump was a featured player at the Emmys. Host Jimmy Kimmel pointed out the man in the audience who made Trump a television star.

“Thanks to Mark Burnett, we don’t have to watch reality shows anymore, because we’re living them,” Kimmel said. Burnett cast Trump in “The Apprentice,” the hit series that gave him a catchphrase (“you’re fired”) and a larger public profile. Both Kimmel and Burnett, who accepted an award later for another one of his shows, “The Voice,” joked about that series’ stars being future Supreme Court nominees.

Aziz Ansari referenced some of Trump’s controversial comments about minorities in a brief routine, jokingly suggesting his parents had to be thrown out of the hall.

“America Ferrera,” he said to the actress. “Nice try changing your name to America. Out!”

(With the Associated Press)