Young and Restless’s Michael Graziadei On Daytime Emmy Nomination: ‘I’m In With Some Heavy Hitters!’ (EXCL)
Having previously been nominated twice for a Daytime Emmy Award in the Younger Actor category in 2005 and 2006 during his previous run as Daniel on Young and Restless, Michael Graziadei graduated this year with a Supporting Actor nomination. “This is the first one that… I’m not trying to take anything away from the other nominations, but this is the first one that kind of feels real,” he tells Soap Opera Digest. “I know I’m in with some heavy hitters.” The nominations were announced back in July, and Graziadei chuckles, “A lot of my friends keep asking me, ‘This is so cool! What does it mean?’ And I just kept telling them it means we have to wait until October to be disappointed.”
Emotional Rollercoaster
In the aftermath of Heather’s murder, Daniel went through a gauntlet of emotions from grief to anger and everything in between. So Graziadei had plenty to choose from when assembling his Emmy reel in the hopes of earning a nomination. “There was an episode where Summer came over to the house, and it was the first time I was talking to her about what had happened with Heather,” the actor shares of his submission’s kick-off. “I start going into the story and then talking about identifying her body and just kind of break down.
“After that, I submitted some scenes where I was confronting Sharon at her house about not only Heather, but about what had happened with my mother [Phyllis], and I really leaned into her and let her have it,” Graziadei continues. Rounding out the reel, “I submitted a scene where I was at the hospital talking with Nick and Summer about the whole situation as well. It all just seemed to be a nice flow and a good show of what I was capable of acting with other people and a good emotional range as well.”
Big Night Out
As happy as he is to have scored a nod, the Y&R star says he’s not really making plans for Emmy night. “I just want to take it as I do pretty much the rest of life, one day at a time,” Graziadei shrugs. “So we’ll just see what happens that night. Either way, I’m going to get to celebrate with friends, family, cast, crew, all that kind of stuff. It’s always fun when you get to get out and away from work with everyone, adding that he is “definitely looking forward to seeing everybody and being out.”
In fact, the Daytime Emmys will double as a date night for the actor and his fiancée, Lauren Carey, with whom he shares twin sons, Oliver Bear and Arlo Wilde, who turned 4 in July. “We’re definitely gonna get a sitter for the kids that night, so that’ll be nice, a fun night out for Mom and Dad,” Graziadei enthuses. “I have friends that work in the industry, that have shows that are nominated as well, through Netflix, Amazon, and other networks. So I’m going to have a lot of friends there. People that I don’t always get to hang out with on a daily basis. I’m excited.”
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