It was the night of a thousand stars (and a fair few dizazo frocks), but amid the backslapping and the champagne popping, trans people all around the world got a shout-out.

Transparent star Jeffrey Tambor – who plays trans woman Maura Pfefferman in the Amazon Prime dramedy – won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.

The show – hailed worldwide as an authentic and touching look at transitioning – picked up five gongs on the night.

“I had a teacher who used to say, ‘When you act, you have to act as if your life depends on it,’” said Tambor when he got to the podium.

“Now I’ve been given the opportunity to act because people’s lives depend on it.”

He added: “I’d like to dedicate my performance and this award to the transgender community.

“Thank you for your patience. Thank you for your courage. Thank you for your stories. Thank you for your inspiration. Thank you for letting us be part of the change.”

It was a night of triumph for Tambor, who admitted that he felt ‘throw-up’ nervous taking on the role of Maura in the hit show. It proved to be a huge career boost for the actor; in June, he also won the Best Actor award at the well-regarded Critics’ Choice Awards.

Jill Soloway, the Transparent showrunner who created the series based on her own experiences of having a transgender parent, also doffed a cap to the transgender community.

“Something interesting about my ‘moppa’ (mom and poppa) Carrie. She could tomorrow go and try and find an apartment, and in 32 states it would be legal for the landlord to look her in the eye and say ‘we don’t rent to trans people’ We don’t have a trans tipping point yet, we have a trans civil rights problem.”