The 50th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards will be held on Friday, Dec. 15, with the ceremony airing live on CBS starting at 9 p.m. ET. Soap Opera Digest chatted with the nominees to get the scoop on how they found out, what episodes they submitted, and more as we count down to daytime’s biggest night!
Outstanding Supporting Actor
Jon Lindstrom (Kevin/ex-Ryan, GENERAL HOSPITAL)
ABC/Craig Sjodin
How did you first get the news of your nomination? “[Executive Producer] Frank Valentini called me to congratulate me. Cady [McClain, ex-Dixie, ALL MY CHILDREN et al, his wife] was in New York at the time and right after I hung up with Frank, Cady texted me. So, that’s how I found out, and then everybody else started letting me know.”
What was your reaction to the good news? “I was surprised, actually — I didn’t expect to be nominated this year.”
Why is that? “Oh, I don’t know. The last couple of nominations I got were for Kevin and Ryan work, as well; this one was also a Kevin and Ryan submission. But still, I just wasn’t expecting it. I was also a little surprised Avery Pohl [Esme] did not get nominated, and I told her that; I told her that I was disappointed. My entire submission reel began with a couple of scenes of Kevin warning Esme away from Ryan, which was early last year, and then it switches to Esme with Ryan and Ryan’s kind of bald-faced manipulation of her, and she was a different person than she was when she was with Ryan. So we were both really kind of very different people with each other in different contexts and I thought she did a magnificent job. I thought, ‘Well, this certainly makes me look good! I’ll use those!’ But I definitely felt that [it was appropriate to submit in] Supporting; I definitely felt that I was in support of what was going on.”
Were you pleased to see Ryan’s baby mama, Alley Mills (ex-Heather), nominated as Outstanding Guest Performer? “Oh, I was very pleased to see that Alley made the cut. Alley is such a great actress. She’s really old-school in that she digs in deep and she works her ass of, harder than just about anybody I’ve ever known. So I was very happy and I think she was really happy as well!”
What is your take on there being a whopping four actors from GH in your category? “That’s a little unusual, but I’m thrilled! They’re all people that I respect and like. I think everybody in the category deserves it, honestly. I’m not as familiar with Dan Feuerriegel [EJ, DAYS], but I have seen some of his work and I think he’s really talented. So, you know, I’m thrilled. I mean, people say, ‘Hey, the real honor is in the nomination,’ and that’s very true. It is your peers looking at [everyone’s work] and saying, ‘Okay, these are the best of the bunch.’ I am very proud to be a four-time Emmy nominee. And with four of us nominated in just this category from my show, we’re gonna have a great Emmy party, no matter what!”
The other three times you’ve been nominated, did you get nervous in the audience waiting for your category to be called? “Oh, yes. I don’t care what anybody says — it’s an incredibly nerve-racking thing! Somebody asked me, ‘Are you gonna write down a speech?’ And my first answer was, ‘No, I’m not. I’ve done that before and I just end up not using it.’ But then I remembered, ‘Oh, you stand up there and you’re on live television and there are people out there watching this and people you don’t want to forget to thank.’ So I think it would be good to at least have a piece of paper handy in my pocket in case I start to kind of babble! Which would not be unexpected.”
