Blake School grad Andrij Parekh celebrates his big Emmy win for 'Succession'

Andrij Parekh woke up at 4:30 a.m. to be part of last weekend's Emmy Awards. Good thing he did. The former Minnesotan was named best director of a dramatic series for his work on HBO's "Succession." Parekh, best known as a cinematographer on films like "Blue Valentine" and "The Zookeeper's Wife," accepted from a hotel room in Prague where he is currently shooting a commercial.

His parents weren't expecting to hear their son's name called as they watched from their home in Medina. After all, he's only helmed six hours of episodic television, three of them being for "Succession," which would also win an Emmy for best drama, and one for "Watchmen," which was named best limited series.

He beat out some heavy hitters, including Mimi Leder whose credits include the feature film "The Basis of Sex" and some of the most memorable episodes of "ER."

"We were kind of shocked," mother Lesya Parekh said Tuesday, sharing that she and her husband celebrated by popping open a bottle of Champagne. "Since it was one of his first directing jobs, we thought he wasn't going to get it."

Parekh, who graduated from the Blake School and Carleton College, was smart enough to follow up his virtual acceptance speech with a phone call home.

"He was thrilled," she said. "He said, 'I hope I made you proud.' We said, 'Absolutely.'"

Neal Justin • 612-673-7431

@nealjustin