Julia Louise Dreyfuss shakes and wells up during Emmys speech as she reveals her father has just died

'His opinion was the one that really mattered,' says the Seinfield actress

Julia Louise-Dreyfus has dedicated her emotionally charged Emmy acceptance speech to her father who passed away on Friday.

The 55-year-old actor, who is best known for her roles in Seinfeld and Veep, was shaking and on the brink of tears as she paid tribute to William Louis-Dreyfus while receiving an award for Veep at Sunday’s ceremony.

Her father was a billionaire energy businessman who began his career as a lawyer, working for a New York City law firm, before going on to serve as the chairman of Louis Dreyfus Energy Services. He died on Friday at the age of 84, leaving behind three daughters and his wife Phyllis B Louis-Dreyfus.

“Lastly, I'd like to dedicate this to my father, William Louis-Dreyfus who passed away on Friday,” the seven-time Emmy winner said.

“And, I'm so glad that he liked Veep because his opinion was the one that really mattered.”

Julia’s award for Veep, an American political satire which models itself on British sitcom The Thick of It, is her fifth consecutive Emmy.

“I'd also like to take this opportunity to personally apologise for the current political climate,” she also said in her acceptance speech. “I think that Veep has torn down the wall between comedy and politics. Our show started out as a political satire but it feels now like sobering documentary.”

Since the tribute to her father, Richard Dreyfuss has been wrongly identified as her father.

The 68-year-old actor, who is best known for his roles in The Goodbye Girl and Jaws, has taken to Twitter to clear up any confusion about his relationship to her, writing: “I'm actually not Julia Louis-Dreyfus' father. But I really appreciate all the concerned tweets.”