Emmy winning experience 'surreal' and 'amazing'

Westmeath's first Emmy winner won't forget his first awards ceremony in Los Angeles in a hurry

Ballinagore's Johnny Murphy and his colleagues won the award for Outstanding Prosthetic Make Up for their work on the HBO series, The Last of Us.

Speaking a few days after the glamorous awards show in the Peacock Theatre on January 6, Johnny says that the experience was “amazing” and “very surreal”.

“After our category was announced it's a bit of a blur. I don't really remember the rest of it.”

The Last of Us, which is a post-apocalyptic drama adapted from a video game of the same name and starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, is one of the most critically acclaimed TV shows of the last decade. It was nominated for 24 Emmys and won eight.

While the prosthetic make up team on The Last of Us had been widely praised for their work on the show, Johnny says that such was the quality of the work done by their fellow nominees, they were taking nothing for granted.

“I think you are always confident after you have done really good work, but it's really hard to know [if you will win]. You could go in thinking you are going to win and could be in for a big shock because all the nominees in the category did incredible work.

“I think what The Last of Us had was that it was very new, very popular and was quite original.”

Johnny, who is currently working on a new project in Canada , says that winning the award was particularly special as his wife, Tyrrellspass native Melissa Groome, was part of the wider team.

"She is the one who sat through hours and hours of prosthetics for me to learn my craft without ever complaining while I made her into old women and orcs to name a few. She has always supported me," he told the Westmeath Examiner when the nominations were first announced in July.

Looking ahead to the future, Johnny says that, for now, he is enjoying travelling the world with Melissa and working on projects in different countries. Currently working on a production in Canada, Johnny says that the long term plan is to move back to Ireland and start his own company.