Judith Light and The Last of Us actors are first-time winners at Creative Arts Emmy Awards

Judith Light poses with the award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for Poker Face - Time Of The Monkey in the press room during night one of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards. Photo / Invision / AP

Judith Light from Poker Face and Nick Offerman and Storm Reid from The Last of Us were winners at Saturday night’s Creative Arts Emmy Awards on a night when the theme was first-time Emmys for actors of all ages.

Two staff from Peter Jackson’s Weta FX company in Wellington, Simon Jung and Dennis Yoo, also won awards. The pair were part of a group who were given the Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Season or a Movie award for their work on HBO’s The Last of Us.

Light, 74, took her first Emmy in a nearly 50-year television career for playing a 1960s radical hiding out in a retirement home on an episode of Poker Face the Peacock comedy-mystery series starring Natasha Lyonne. The star of the 1980s and 1990s sitcom Who’s The Boss?, Light had been nominated four times previously, including twice for her acting in Transparent.

“I’ve been in the business a long time, and this is quite a gift,” Light said backstage.

Offerman, 53, won his first Emmy in four nominations, taking Best Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his role as an angry survivalist who ends up in a tender gay relationship in The Last of Us the HBO video game adaptation about a fungal apocalypse that won a leading eight Emmys on Saturday.

Offerman’s 20-year-old castmate Reid, currently a college student at nearby USC, won Best Guest Actress in a Drama Series in her first nomination for a similar episode, a flashback in the form of a tragic teen love story between her and Best Lead Actress nominee Bella Ramsey.

Offerman praised The Last Of Us for its “decency and inclusivity”, and Reid said she was grateful for its “representation of young, queer black women”.

Sam Richardson poses in the press room with the award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for Ted Lasso. Photo / Invision / AP

Sam Richardson, 39, won his own first Emmy for playing a billionaire soccer enthusiast from Ghana in Ted Lasso, the Apple TV+ series that is the year’s most-nominated comedy with 21 nods. He had been nominated once previously for the same role.

The two-part ceremony, where nearly 100 awards are handed out, mostly to less famous crew members and craftspeople, began on Saturday night and continues on Sunday night. It’s a precursor to the main Emmys ceremony that will air at 2pm January 16 (NZT), with black-ish star Anthony Anderson as host. Just like the main telecast, the Creative Arts Emmys arrive after a four-month delay because of Hollywood’s writers’ and actors’ strikes.

Another 1980s and ‘90s sitcom star, Jasmine Guy of A Different World, won her first Emmy on Saturday, for Best Actress in a Short-form Comedy or Drama Series for Chronicles Of Jessica Wu. Tim Robinson won the same award on the actors’ side for I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson. It’s his second Emmy for performing in the Netflix show.

Best Television Movie went to the Roku Channel’s biopic Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, in which Daniel Radcliffe plays the titular comic-music star.

The real Yankovic, a 64-year-old five-time Grammy winner, gave some advice backstage to young people starting out in entertainment.

“Take accordion lessons,” he said. “It’ll pay off eventually.”

The Creative Arts Emmys continue on Sunday - nominees will include Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey.