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 Guest Performer
Steve Burton (Harris, DAYS OF OUR LIVES)
Howard Wise/Peacock
Congrats on the nomination — your tenth! “It’s the tenth, yeah! Bradford [Anderson, Spinelli, GH] and I figured that out and it’s pretty cool. It’s just always a great reminder that you’re still in the game, you know? And that feels good, to be here in daytime for so long and to still get recognized for your work. It’s really nice and it means a lot to me.”
You’re in a unique position in that you’ve already won for your other two daytime roles, GH’s Jason and Y&R’s Dylan. Do you feel any pressure to make it a trifecta? “Nah, I don’t feel any pressure. I mean, look, to win an Emmy from three different shows would be incredible, but I’m not even really thinking about it. I’m just planning to go and have a lot of fun. I’m sure it’ll be awesome!”
What do you like about Emmy night in general? “I haven’t been to the place it’s being held this year, but what I like about it is that especially after Covid, and not being on a show for a couple of years and now being back on a show, it’s just going to be great to see everyone! The daytime family has shrunk so much that now, everybody really knows everybody and it’s always good to see familiar faces. And I’ve worked with a lot of these people, the cast and crew, for 30 years, so it’s going to be a fun night.”
What did you submit? “Being a guest star, I had five shows to pick from. They just sent me a reel of what they thought was the best and quite frankly, by the time I got back to them, it was already too late to make any changes and we just submitted that [laughs]! Usually, I let the producers do that for me anyway. At GH, Michelle Henry, one of our producers, and Nneka [Garland, late producer] always did that for me. It’s hard to watch yourself!”
Did you and Maurice Benard (Sonny, GH) exchange congratulations? “Oh, yeah, we texted back and forth, for sure. I texted everyone who was nominated over at GH. So many great ladies were nominated, too! I just love it.”
Do you think about what you’re going to wear? “I have not thought about that yet, but I probably should. I don’t know if I’m gonna go traditional tux and all that. Maybe more casual. I don’t know, we’ll see. What do you think [laughs]?”
Do you plan a speech in advance or wing it? “I don’t wing it. I learned from my first one, and then my second one. My first speech was so fast, it was like I was doing an auction, because I was so nervous! My second one was definitely slower, and this one, if it were to happen, I would probably be at normal pace. I would have something planned, but when you get up there, who knows what happens! It won’t be memorized, so we’ll see.”
Where do you keep your other two statuettes? “One is broken — the wings came off years ago when I moved to Tennessee and we shipped it. I know I can get a new one. The other one is up on my mantel, kind of behind my TV. You can kind of see it. You’re like, ‘What is that thing up there behind the TV?’ ”
