Mishael Morgan (Amanda, Y&R) made Emmy history by becoming the first Black actress to take home the Lead Actress Emmy. In her moving speech, she said, “I’m in shock! … I need to thank the fans and everybody sitting at home. They embraced me when I came on this show and I am so immensely proud of our generation. We are breaking glass ceilings left, right and center and I am so honored to be a vessel and to experience this moment and it’s because of everybody who is out there today who is proving to the world that we can and we will do this thing called equality and unity together. I was born on a tiny island, Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean, and now I’m standing on an international stage and I am being honored, regardless of the color of my skin, regardless of my passport, for being the best at what I do. And now there are little girls all around the world and they’re seeing another step forward and they know that no matter their industry, no matter their vocation, no matter what, they can strive to be the best at what they do. Not only can they achieve it, but they will be celebrated for it. Thank you!”
Lead Actor John McCook (Eric, B&B) took home his first win in four nominations and said, “Okay, okay! I’m so glad to get this Emmy. Any Emmy would be fine, don’t misunderstand! I thank [Executive Producer/Head Writer] Brad Bell for trusting me to tell this story. Thank you, Brad. It was a very controversial and challenging story and I thank Rena Sofer [Quinn] for being so close to me, every day, for months as we told this story. I thank Ed. I thank the writers for trying to make this work every day. I thank Thorsten Kaye [Ridge] for his love of this work. He’s my BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL brother on the boards there. I thank my wife, my sweet, beautiful Laurette, for giving me my life, this wonderful life, and I thank the Academy for doing this every year and to CBS for putting us back on the air. It means a great deal to all of us, it really does. And that’s about it! I thank [Vice President, Communications & Talent Relations] Eva Basler for taking such good care of us with love and light and congratulations to all of us. Hey! Thank you very much!”
Supporting Actress Kelly Thiebaud (Britt, GH) enthused, “Wow! I have no idea what to say, this is, like — I cannot believe this, I am so shocked! Thank you, thank you so much for this honor and to have my work recognized like this, it’s just so meaningful. Thank you. Everyone at GENERAL HOSPITAL, I love you guys so much! I cannot believe this. My mom is here tonight. She drove out to L.A. with me when I was 17. I had no idea what I was going to do and I can’t believe I’m standing up here right now! Another little funny joke. My brother, when I first started acting, he saw my work and he was like, ‘You’re not that good.’ So, thank you for giving me something to rub in his face. Thank you so much!”
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Supporting Actor victor Jeff Kober (Cyrus, GH) said, “Wow. Thank you for making me feel so welcome in daytime. What a trip. And my GENERAL HOSPITAL family, this is the best group of people to work with. I love what we get to do for a living. It’s play. And they let me play and I let myself play and this is what happened. It’s a beautiful thing. I want to thank my manager, Lisa DiSante-Frank, for thinking this would be a good idea and [Executive Producer] Frank Valentini for agreeing. Thank you. And my beautiful wife, Adele, for making a home for me all these years. Thank you guys.”
DAYS’s Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team winner Ron Carlivati shared his award with Creative Consultant Ryan Quan. Carlivati shared, “Hi, everybody! Oh, okay, so, thank you so much to the Academy for this tremendous honor. We want to thank Michael Sluchan [Executive Vice President, Current Scripted Programming & Limited Series] and Cherise Masukawa [Manager, Current Programming] at NBC, [who are] just the most supportive and enthusiastic cheerleaders of DAYS OF OUR LIVES. [President] Kelly Campbell and everyone at Peacock, who stream our show on the platform and even gave us a spinoff. Our fearless leader, [Executive Producer] Ken Corday; our executive producer, Albert Alaar; our amazingly talented cast and crew, especially Bill Hayes [Doug], our 97-year-old cast member, who let us put glowing contact lenses in his eyes so that the devil could come back to Salem and possess Marlena. Lastly, we want to dedicate this award to our friend and colleague Betsy Snyder [a member of the writing team who passed away in 2021]. We love you and we miss you every day. Thanks.”
First-time winner Nicholas Chavez, who took home the award for Outstanding Younger Performer, enthused, “Wow! Thank you, thank you so much. Thank you to GENERAL HOSPITAL, for giving me this chance. Just a little over a year ago, I was selling cars in a little beach town in Florida and, um, I always had the love and support of my family, but none of us had ever dreamed that I would be up on this stage talking to you here today, so thank you so much, thank you. Thank you to Frank Valentini for giving me that chance, thank you to everyone at GENERAL HOSPITAL — the directors, the producers, the writers, the cast and the crew for making me part of this family. Thank you so much. Thank you.”
GH Executive Producer Frank Valentini celebrated the show’s win for Outstanding Drama Series; the show is now the most-winning Daytime Drama Series in history, having won the category a total of 15 times. During his speech, “Certainly there are more important things in the world, especially right now, but for the next few seconds you made us feel very proud and for that we’d like to thank everyone at the Academy, our amazing partners at ABC/Disney, [Chairman of Disney General Entertainment Content] Dana Walden, [ABC Entertainment President] Craig Erwich, Sarah Murphy-Katz [Manager, Current Programming], Dominic Nuzzi [Vice President, Production & Administration], Lisa Gagliardi [Director, Business Affairs] and Heidi Title [Vice-President, Business Affairs]. Our cast is amazing, our crew is incredibly hard-working and talented, our production designers, Jennifer [Elliott] and Andrew [Evaschen], our directors, our amazing costume designer, Shawn [Reeves]. Our fans, and we’d like to thank — sorry, I’m really nervous, no one’s seen my face in three years; I hope it looks okay! Love you all very much. Have a great night!”
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