She was crowned victorious at this year's Golden Globes, so it's little wonder Claire Foy had repeated success at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday night. The 32-year-old scooped the prize for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series for her excellent portrayal of the young Queen Elizabeth II in Netflix drama, The Crown.
During her acceptance speech, the British actress praised her co-star Matt Smith - who plays Prince Philip - telling the audience: "You are not only a spontaneous, exciting and an incredibly talented actor, but you are also my friend Matt. Thank you for making this job a joy and making me laugh, I love you very much."
© Photo: Getty ImagesThe Crown's Claire Foy declared her "love" for co-star Matt Smith on Sunday night
It was also big night for Claire's The Crown co-star John Lithgow, who was honoured with the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the period drama. "I would never have cast myself as Winston Churchill," he addressed the crowd. "That was the bright idea of Peter Morgan, Stephen Daldry and Nina Gold."
"They hooked me up with our wonderful costumer, our wonderful Michelle Clapton, a great make-up artist Ivanna Primorac, a great dialect coach William Conacher and, put me into a brilliant cast of about 50 wonderful British actors led by our wonderful Claire Foy," he added, before concluding: "Those are the people who delivered me up to this podium."
© Photo: Getty ImagesClaire and John Lithgow were both honoured at the SAG Awards
The Crown focuses on the early years of the Queen’s reign, and her relationship with Prince Phillip. Reported to be the streaming website's biggest budget to date, The Crown has been one of this year's favourites to do well during awards season. Earlier this month, creator Peter Morgan and director Stephen Baldry were no doubt overjoyed after the show was named best television drama at the Golden Globes. The highly popular series faced stiff competition, beating Stranger Things, Game of Thrones, HBO's Westworld and drama This Is Us.
