Young and Restless’s Mishael Morgan on Michelle Stafford: ‘She’s Such a Gift’ (EXCL)
Phyllis has been determined to go into business with Aristotle Dumas on Young and Restless, and even after learning the alias belonged to Cane Ashby, she hasn’t changed her tune. Of course, as Cane’s right-hand-woman, Amanda needs to protect her own interests, but reigning in someone as strong-willed and stubborn as Phyllis is definitely something that is easier said than done. Mishael Morgan (Amanda) opened up to Soap Opera Digest about the conflict between the two characters as well as the bond that she shares with co-star Michelle Stafford (Phyllis) that makes their scenes so much fun to shoot.
Agree to Disagree
“Phyllis, she has her own agenda,” Morgan notes. “She kind of goes and does things on her own time for her own reasons. And I think it really puts Amanda and Phyllis at odds at certain points, but they are still best friends. So it’s like playing this dynamic of the best friend that you have that just won’t listen to you, that won’t listen to anything that you say, and it’s creating even more havoc. So I think that it is going to put a huge strain on Amanda and Phyllis’s relationship, for sure.”
During Morgan’s first run on Y&R playing Hilary Curtis from 2013-18, Gina Tognoni was playing the role of Phyllis Summers. However, when Morgan returned to the soap the following year to tackle the new character of Hilary’s twin, Amanda Sinclair, Stafford was back in the role she originated in 1994. Amanda and Phyllis soon struck up a friendship, and even after the attorney left Genoa City in 2022, she would always make a point of catching up with her gal pal every time she came back for a visit.
While she was in town in early 2024, Amanda chided Phyllis for faking her own death, and this time around, she has attempted to steer her friend away from doing business with Dumas… though unsuccessfully, it seems. Still, Morgan considers any time she gets to share the screen with Stafford as a good time.
Bond Girls
“She’s one of my favorite actors to work with because she’s just so playful and you never know what you’re going to get,” Morgan enthuses. “So as soon as the camera starts rolling, it’s completely different than how you were running your lines. It’s completely different from rehearsal. It’s always different and interesting, and she keeps you so engaged.
“She’s such a gift for an actor because you have to be in the moment and you have to be able to react because she’s never going to do it the same way,” she adds. “She has so many interesting plans, and she just really enjoys what she does. She has a true passion for storytelling and for making every scene have weight and meaning and be interesting and compelling to watch. So she’s a joy to work with all around.”
That camaraderie with her co-star extends beyond the Y&R set with the Daytime Emmy winner declaring, “As a person, she’s so much fun, too.” The actress also notes that Stafford is quite different from the role she’s been playing for decades. “She has a much stronger moral compass in real life,” Morgan says with a hearty laugh, “but she loves playing the complicated characters, and I love having the opportunity to work with her, for sure.”
Conversation
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