Arjo Atayde made history as the first Filipino to cop the Best Actor trophy at the recently concluded Asian Academy Creative Awards 2020 for his excellent performance as Benjie in the socio-political action-drama series "Bagman."
He bested nine other actors from Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Hong Kong, and China, for the plum.
Note Arjo was also the only Pinoy to take home a prize at the prestigious event.
According to the organization, the "extraordinary win" of Arjo was more than appropriate as the 30-year-old star "nailed the complexity" of his character.
Arjo couldn't help but feel emotional.
"I don't know what to say. I'm caught off guard," he said.
Gathering his thoughts, he then thanked ABS-CBN, his family and supporters.
Arjo made special mention of "Bagman" writer and director Shugo Praico.
"Thank you so much, I rode your imagination, you brought me here," he said.
Arjo also expressed his gratitude to the Asian Academy Creative Awards for pushing through with the event amid the ongoing pandemic.
"This means so much to me, to everyone else, to every actor who's existed tonight and showed their brilliance, their art -- that we love the same thing. We're just here doing the same thing and it's a dream come true, man," he said.
He added, "I'm not just one of the actors in the Philippines, they're a lot of brilliant actors and I just hope to do more for them, to be able to show you even more of what we have in our country. And I hope this is not the first and last, I hope this is the beginning for everything. Thank you so much."