Actor Remy Hii's first mainstream role has landed him a Silver Logie.
Hii has taken out the Graham Kennedy Award for Most Outstanding Newcomer for his role as executed Australian drug trafficker Van Tuong Nguyen in the SBS mini-series Better Man.
The award, announced on Monday, precedes the TV Week Logies event to be staged on Sunday at Melbourne's Crown Casino and telecast on the Nine Network.
Hii was up against Anna Bamford (Wonderland), Caren Pistorius (Paper Giants: Magazine Wars), Meyne Wyatt (Redfern Now) and Shareena Clanton (Wentworth) for the peer-voted award.
The NIDA graduate was plucked from relative obscurity to play the main character in Better Man alongside Australian screen veterans Bryan Brown, Claudia Karvan and David Wenham. His only other experience had been in NIDA productions.
The Silver Logie was created in honour of iconic funnyman Graham Kennedy, who died in 2005. Previous recipients have included Firass Dirani, Jessica Marais, Emma Lung and Chris Lilley.
As part of the award, Hii receives a return flight to LA, a one-year scholarship at the Stella Adler Academy Of Acting And Theatre in LA, and mentoring with prominent industry figures.
Nguyen's arrest, conviction and death were captured in the two-part mini-series Better Man.
"I remember it being a really tragic and horrible thing to have happened to an Australian citizen," Hii told AAP before Better Man screened.
Hii was at the Queensland University of Technology studying human rights in 2005 when Nguyen was sent to the gallows in Singapore.
He told TV Week it was an honour to receive the Logie as the series meant a lot to him.
"Playing Van Tuong Nguyen in SBS's Better Man was an incredible journey for me and it's a huge honour to receive this recognition," Hii said.
"I'm hugely grateful and excited for what this will mean for me in the future.
Hii has just been cast in a Netflix TV series based on explorer Marco Polo.
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