Meaning behind duck gift Jake Gyllenhaal gave to Owen Cooper as he became youngest male Emmy winner

Jake Gyllenhaal gifted a little duck to Owen Cooper as he made history last night (14 September).

The 15-year-old from Warrington became the youngest male to win an Outstanding Supporting Actor Emmy for his performance in Adolescence.

There’s no denying Cooper was simply brilliant in the Netflix series earlier this year, with the hit show racking in 13 nominations as co-stars Stephen Graham and Erin Doherty also picked up awards.

Having never acted before, the lad’s clearly caught the eyes of Hollywood, having been cast in the upcoming Wuthering Heights film and sharing a moment with Gyllenhaal.

To be fair, Cooper had made it pretty clear he was set on meeting the Nightcrawler actor as he told Jimmy Kimmel recently: “I want to get there [to the Emmys], do all the media and then just chew Jake Gyllenhaal’s ear off all night.”

The star admitted meeting him was his ‘number one priority’ and it came true before the awards even took place.

A video shared by Netflix’s Tudum showed Gyllenhaal making his way down a hotel hallway feeling ‘nervous’ as he carried a gift for the actor.

Cooper was speechless as he met his idol, mid-interview, about how he would feel if it did actually happen.

“Oh my god,” the teen repeated as Gyllenhaal walked into the room and hugged him.

Cooper also took to Instagram to share some snaps of the moment ahead of the awards as he wrote: “Honour and a privilege to meet an icon of the game like Jake and will never forget it.”

As the Adolescence actor opened up the little box, Gyllenhaal explained: “I made this movie [Brokeback Mountain], and I got nominated for an Academy Award, and a friend of mine sent me this before.

“Something just like this. It’s just a ‘Lucky Duck’ to keep in your pocket. To give you a little bit of luck.”

Cooper looked buzzing with his little golden duck as Gyllenhaal joked about their meeting: “I just came by because he’s just been talking about me too much, so I just figured I’d stop it, I’d stop it and get it done.”

Not even needing that Lucky Duck on his side, the actor told the Emmys audience he was ‘nothing’ just three years ago as he picked up his award.

“Honestly, when I started these drama classes a couple years back, I didn’t expect to be even in the United States, never mind here,” Cooper said.

“But I think tonight proves that if you listen and you focus and you step out of your comfort zone, you can achieve anything in life.”

Smashed it.