Rami Malek has scooped another major acting award for his role as Freddie Mercury in the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, as he picked up a statue at the BAFTA awards.

At last night's ceremony – which honors the past year's greatest achievements in movies and television in the U.K. – Malek won for Best Actor, scoring another win alongside his recent victories at the Screen Actors Guild (for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor) and Golden Globes (Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama).

In his speech, Malek thanked the band. "Thank you very much to Queen," he said. "To Brian May. To Roger Taylor. To the entire Queen family. I wouldn't be here without you. And to the greatest outside of them all for being so unwavering and unflinching and uncompromising in every which way. Thank you, Freddie Mercury."

In a post-win interview, Malek said he was "quite taken aback. I'm breath-taken. Right off stage, I went into a corridor and just took a moment for myself to feel the weight of all of this. It's an extraordinary moment in my life."

In another interview after winning the award, he called Mercury "the gift that keeps on giving." He recalled that at a screening in Japan, an audience knew "every word to every song," even though a translator was needed during a Q&A at the same event. "The world claims [Mercury]," Malek said. "He belongs to everyone."

While Bohemian Rhapsody didn't win for Outstanding British Film (that honor went to The Favourite), the movie did pick up an award for Best Sound.

Guitarist May was at the BAFTA Awards and congratulated both Malek and the sound team for their wins.

Queen also retweeted the official movie's tweet congratulation the actor.

Malek's next big awards ceremony is on Feb. 24, when the Academy Awards will be handed out. He's nominated as Best Actor; Bohemian Rhapsody is nominated for four other awards too, including Best Picture.

 

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