Days of Our Lives’s Emily O’Brien On Emmy Nomination: ‘I Really Don’t Think It’s My Year’ (EXCL)
After earning a trio of Daytime Emmy nominations as Outstanding Younger Actress for playing Jana Hawkes on Young and Restless, Emily O’Brien found herself in the running for a statuette again, this time as Outstanding Supporting Actress in 2024 as Gwen Rizczech on Days of Our Lives. Now, in 2025, she’s up for gold in that category again — but for her other Salem identity, Theresa. “I wasn’t expecting to have a nomination as Theresa,” O’Brien tells Soap Opera Digest. “It was a surprise!”
Total Package
O’Brien, who has since resumed playing Gwen on DAYS, assumed the role of Theresa from Jen Lilley back in 2023. “That was such a whirlwind year for me and it took me a while to sort of find my footing as that character,” the actress muses of her time as a recast. “But I ended up truly enjoying that and the challenges that presented themselves to me. I look back now and realize how much I actually did enjoy it and love it. So, as shocked as I was in the beginning to hear that I had a nomination as Theresa, now I’m really sort of enjoying and celebrating it, you know? I’m remembering that time more fondly than I felt [at the time] because I was really nervous the whole time. It feels good to sit into it and celebrate.”
This nomination means that she has now been recognized with an Emmy nod for all three roles she’s played on the two daytime shows she’s appeared on. “I didn’t think of it that way, but wow, that’s nice to think about!” she says when Digest points out this statistic. “It makes me just sort of put them all in a row together and I’m imagining these three very distinct characters who are so different from each other. So, to be recognized for that feels wonderful.”
Win, Lose or Draw
O’Brien’s Theresa wig was so central to her experience playing the character that, she teases, “I even thought about bringing the wig with me as a date! I’d have to mention the wig in there somewhere [if she was called to make an acceptance speech], but I’m not thinking that far ahead. I really don’t think it’s my year. I’m just happy to be on this ride again and alongside Linsey [Godfrey, Sarah, who was also nominated for Supporting Actress] for a second time. That part is just the most fun and it’s enough for me just to have that fun right now!”
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