Billy Miller – Supporting Actor:

“I was asleep, soundly. After a long night of, well ‘celebrating life,’ I took the liberty of staying out late only to wake up to my agents calling me at 5:00 am. I answered assuring them that a.) I was not in jail b.) I didn’t do anything more stupid than ordinary, and c.) whatever you heard, it wasn’t me. Then of course they delivered the good news. Very cool, must admit I am pleasantly surprised and very honored.

By 9 am I found it odd my mom didn’t call, so I reached out to her. She told me she didn’t think I got a nom because my name wasn’t announced in the a.m. broadcast. So, I then delivered the news, at which time she said ‘THAT’S GREAT! Goodbye, I have to brag to people now.’ Then she hung up on me.”

Christel Khalil – Younger Actress:

“I woke up late because having a new baby I get no sleep. So I woke up with 6 voicemails and the first one I heard was from Josh O’Connell (Y&R, producer) saying congrats and then I heard the rest. I was excited. The previous two years I was pre-nominated I knew I wouldn’t be nominated. But this year I wasn’t sure. So to find out that out was very exciting. I submitted the episode of Lily finding out she had cancer. I liked it because it had me interacting with so many characters. I also think Bryton should’ve gotten nominated. He always has such strong work. He’s also very natural.”

Drew Garrett – Younger Actor:

“I found out through the east coast from some family members who were not taking the time change on the west coast into consideration, because it was 6AM in L.A. I woke up very early. And my day began after that, because I could not go back to sleep because it was such awesome news. My mind was spinning. Thee best thing to wake up too. Later, I spoke with Maurice Benard (Sonny) who was my on-camera dad, but I felt like he was my off-camera dad at times. One thing that he said that reminded me of how he is such a great guy… was when I said to him, “Oh Maurice. I was bummed you did not get nominated!” But he said, “You know what man? Even if I had my nomination, I would give it up as long as you got yours.” I might even bust out a tux. I mean, Vegas, the after parties, and I am 21 now. I have been to Vegas many times, but this will be my first time being 21!”

Crystal Chappell – Guiding Light:

“I was awakened at 5:30AM by my publicist, Leslie Penny. And I said to her, “Oh, that is so wonderful!”, and then I went back into bed! My son turned ten yesterday and we had celebrated with him last night so I was a bit tired, but it’s exciting! I texted other people and congratulated them as well. I was actually out scouting locations today for season two of Venice, so I will be twittering later. Those twitter folks are right there with me, and amazing.

I am thrilled. It is always excited to get nominated. I am sure Beth Chamberlin (Ex-Beth, GL) feels the same way. Guiding Light meant so much to me. It’s not here anymore, and so it’s a different feeling this time. It all just reminds me of all the things I miss about it and the people. And, I have great wonderful memories and friendships. But this is nice to go to the Emmys and represent a show that is no longer here, but a part of so many people lives. It’s really an amazing thing.”

Beth Chamberlin – Guiding Light:

I think this was significant. I was getting my son ready for school, and I had gone on my computer and the internet was out. I originally thought the Emmy nominations were going to be announced on the 14th. And, it was Tina Sloan who called and she said, “You got an Emmy nomination,” because how I felt about this would depend if Tina got nominated too. Tina is my friend and mentor, and so that was my ideal, to experience this with her. But the fact that she was the one to tell me, I feel in a strange sort of way the stars aligned there. I also heard from Grant Aleksander, Ron Raines and Liz Keifer today so that was special. I submitted the episode after Coop had died. He died while Beth was away from the hospital, and she goes through her leaving Alan, and then it ends with a scene between Beth and Phillip where he is behind bars. I thought it had a lot of different stuff going on. For me personally, it feels like the nomination has been a long time coming. This is my first nomination. There is something about that though, that makes it a nice way to put a button on the Guiding Light experience. “

Bree Willamson – One Life to Live:

“It’s wonderful of course, and great. I found out live on The Early Show. It was a real sincere surprise till Harry Smith told me on the air. The only one that I called, who didn’t already know was Renee Goldsberry (Ex-Evangeline). Erika Slezak called me and congratulated me, and said that, “I deserve it”, and she is so great. I think this year, I am going to try and relax a little bit more about the nomination. Last year, I was tied up in knots at the ceremonies.

I chose the scenes I did because I had not ever submitted anything for the Emmys with the alters on it. Every tape I had submitted previously was the aftermath of the alters, or the aftermath of Nash’s death/funeral. I thought this time, since I did not know when I would play this type of storyline again, I wanted to have one year where I submitted a tape where I actually switch between characters. It was neat to have a tape that showcased that the way I wanted to, and it was with Erika Slezak! You can’t go wrong submitting a tape with Erika Slezak on it”

Molly Burnett- Younger Actress:

“Glee was on last night and so I was up late, and I had to be in to work at 8am. So, I am sleeping in bed, and the phone rings. Phone calls at 6am in the morning are usually not good news, but it was exciting when I got the call. This is my first official nomination. Surprisingly I submitted more of a comedic scene. I actually was then surprised I got nominated. I thought for sure the blue-ribbon panel would go, “What is this? This is supposed to be soap opera!” But it’s these sweet scenes between Melanie and Maggie at the hospital where Maggie tells her she needs to find someone who loves you for you. And then Melanie sees Nathan in the park, and asks him for a second chance. And I remember reading this monologue. It was a whole four pages, and I was like, “Oh good God!” But I did it all in one take and it worked out. But there is no yelling and crying in it, and I am so thankful and think it’s cool that it was recognized. My boyfriend Casey Deidrick (Chad) is so excited for me. And, I said to him, “Don’t worry baby. You will get one next year,” because he has been doing some amazing material right now on DAYS.”

Carolyn Hennesy – Supporting Actress:

“I am surprised. I guess the thing that everyone says when they get a nomination like this is it is surreal, and it has not sunk in yet. Right now I am kind of going through the motions, but its one foot in front of the other right now. It will be interesting to see, what, if anything changes, being a nominee. Maybe it will be nothing, except I get to keep my gown. (Laughs) I think my husband, Donald, is more excited right now than I am. It’s like, “Wow,” and the magnitude of this has not hit me, and then of course… I will start crying. (Laughs). I submitted what I like to call the Thanksgiving episode, and it has generous lashings of everything that goes into making Diane. There are wonderful scenes with Halley Poulos (Molly, GH), and the fact that she is so good contributed in making those scenes so good for me. We were talking about why Diane cannot accompany the Davis women to dinner, because they have set up, Alexis with Mac. There are these poignant and wonderful scenes about Alexis’s love life, and then it goes right into the sex on the floor and the reuniting with Max with the plunger! And I thought, “This tickled me, and it’s quintessential Diane. I am not going to second guess anybody or myself on this, and here it is folks. This is what I do best.” So there was comedy moments, and poignant moments, and whiz bang it ends with Max and Diane on the floor with a plunger and you can’t beat that! (Laughs). So what I intend to do is to go to Las Vegas and have a good time, seriously, because these women I am up against are titans!”

Shelley Hennig – Younger Actress:

“I got an email that I was nominated, but I thought it was a joke. I thought it was a really mean prank. I did not know the announcements were today. I was just really confused! Then I got a phone call from the DAYS publicist and I knew it was true. Things don’t usually sink in with me right away. But, I feel so honored right now. I submitted the episode where Phillip gets shot. To me, it was the obvious choice. Usually, I like to gamble, which is what I have done in the past years. And, maybe that is why I have never gotten a nomination before. This one had the most buzz, and I am most proud of the raw emotion that came out of it. I can’t wait to pull Molly Burnett’s (Melanie) hair, now that we are up in the same category. (Laughing) No, I am kidding, she is so talented and such a pleasure to work with You know, my journey to DAYS was crazy coming from being a beauty pageant winner, but I have worked my butt off, and it shows that hard work does pay off.”

Arianne Zuker – Supporting Actress:

“It’s really cool to finally be recognized. Here is how I found out: I was sleeping and our publicist woke me up at 6:30 am. I found out the nominations came out on Wednesday. So, I said to myself that I was going to set my alarm for a normal time to go to work, and if someone calls me before that, awesome, and if not, I will know I was not nominated. So the phone rings. And, so I automatically knew, only because of my husband Kyle Lowder (Rick, B&B)… that is what happened to him before. I just assumed this was the call. Kyle was definitely more excited than I am. I am sort of kind of keeping my cool, but not for any reason except for its weird. I have been on the show for eleven years, and I am like, “Really, I got nominated?” And I said, “Well, we have to go thank our baby, because I was pregnant with her all last year through all of this. She is just as big a part of this as I am. ”

“I submitted the scenes just after Sami made Nicole admit that she had kidnapped Sydney, and that Sydney was hers. This was after the now “infamous” slap, and it’s the scene where Rafe walks in with the baby. Then it continues on after that. It continues onto the pier where EJ follows me, and I tell him everything and why I did it, hoping he will want to be with me and stay with me, because I just wanted to stay with him. (Laughs) It was basically Nicole’s demise. Our show is like the lone little NBC soap show, and it’s a big deal here, and the past couple of years we have gotten nominations. When I started on the show, we weren’t getting any, as far as acting was concerned. We are maintaining some nominations now which says something. So with that, everyone is happy. Everybody gets their time. As far as the event itself, Oh my God! Vegas with a bunch of actors running around, and the poor publicists trying to collect everybody, and shove us into the theatre, that will be something. (Laughs) My parents were so surprised and thrilled, too. Of course, “congratulations” came after, “Do you need us to watch the baby?” (Laughs).”

Michelle Stafford – Lead Actress:

” Our head writer, Maria Bell called me at 5:50am. And, I did know the nominations were coming out today. In the past every year that I submit myself, I try not to know when the nominations are coming out, because I don’t want to be stuck to it. Every year I do that, somebody the night before usually tells me, “Hey, tomorrow the nominations are coming out.” And then I go, “Oh, God! OK, great. Now I know.” So this year I was like, “I am going to find out when they are being announced ahead of time (Laughs), and this year nobody the day before even talked about the nominations which I thought that was totally hilarious! It’s so great. I don’t know anyone who takes getting a nomination lightly. You should be out, if you are going to be so jaded and take it lightly. But if you are going to play, then you are going to play to win, and you don’t always win, but you are going in to play the game.”

“The show I submitted was Phyllis is trying to hold on to her marriage, and hold on to her life, and she knows she is going down. She finds out that her husband’s ex-wife is pregnant possibly with his child. And it just keeps getting worse and worse, and she knows she is losing. There is something about the reel that I liked, and that is that Phyllis just kept on coming back. She is trying to make it work, and then Nick says something to piss her off. There is desperation about it that I thought was interesting. I guess some others did, too (Laughs).”

Peter Bergman – Lead Actor:

“It’s a happy day indeed. Nothing about it gets old because it’s an invitation to the party and I got invited again. Even, if I were stupid enough to get jaded about this, which I am not, it’s a reminder of some very happy memories of the past, so it carries that with it, too! Maria Bell called and an ungodly hour. I am racing to the phone because I did not want Mariellen to wake up, but of course, she did wake-up. Maria was happy and enthusiastic, and it was a classy move on her part. When I got to my dressing room, Paul Rauch had left a phone message for me. It was another class act. The big change this year is it’s in Vegas. But I am going to make it work, and have some fun, and get some tickets to show, and gamble, and smoke cigarettes! (Laughs)”

“I have talked to my fellow nominee, Doug Davidson. It was one of the first things I did. This is one of the unsung heroes of daytime television. He is one of the hardest working actors in soaps, because you can’t fake, Paul Williams. You can’t do tricks, and it’s honest work, and the tape was so honest. A reminder, you are speaking to probably one of the three actors who watch daytime television. I have been a Michael Park fan for a number of years. He and Maura West do the kind of work that I like to watch. Michael is a terrific actor. Jon Lindstrom has clearly been around daytime television and made a mark everywhere he has gone. James Scott took Days of our Lives by storm from the day he got there, and it’s a well-deserved nomination. I am sad that Stacy Haiduk did not receive a nomination. She was the glue to this whole thing. It’s worth saying that Doug Davidson’s performance on his tape is with him and Stacy, and it was enough to get him a nod. That is a great compliment to Stacy. The way mine was a compliment to Sharon Case and Billy Miller, who were on my submission tape. I have not made a secret of the fact that double identity is not my favorite storyline vehicles. It has only worked on our show because Stacy Haiduk is so brilliant at it. I watched Tuesday’s air show, and the last scene we see of Patty she is in a straight jacket. They cut to her and she is twelve years old, and it’s chilling. She is now finally OK. Patty is in safe place with her brother, and it contrasted so starkly to everything that actresses does. And I said, “There she goes again, Stacy Haiduk!”

“I submitted the morning after Jack finds out about Billy and Sharon. He is cobbling together what is left of his relationship with Sharon. She does not necessarily love him anymore, and does not trust him. But, she is carrying a child that could not be his, and frankly, Jack does not care who the father is, and he may be the father of this child. So he has convinced Sharon to stay with him, and be with him, regardless of who the father of the child is. It’s tenuous at best, and things are not rock solid. She sees something is wrong with Jack. and he is not being particularly forthright about what it is, and is covering, and sends her out the door with the idea that maybe we will talk later today. And Billy walks in, and things get unpleasant after that. Jack is so deeply hurt by his brother. This is someone who he has looked out for more than anyone in his life! It had a lot of different layers to it, which is why I chose it.”

Zack Conroy- Younger Actor:

“I am very excited. I could not believe I got nominated. It’s unbelievable. I am really excited for my former Guiding Light cast mates, Crystal Chappell (Ex-Olivia) and Beth Chamberlin (Ex-Beth), too. Beth had so much great material to choose from. I think out of the three of us someone will get one for sure! I got a call from my agent early in the morning and then lots of calls after that. It felt like it would if it was your birthday. My parents could not be happier. My dad started sending messages to all his distant relatives. I started getting all these messages on my facebook page from people I never heard of. It was pretty funny. And you will see me in Vegas, not at the slot machines, but at the black jack table! “(Laughs)

“I submitted something with Grant Aleksander (Phillip) and I. It was when James was getting upset with Phillip about the Ponzi scheme. I honestly did not have that much to chose from and I kept five shows I liked for myself, and it just so happens I picked a winner to be a nominee. ” (Laughs)

Sarah Brown – Lead Actress:

“I was dead asleep and Carolyn Hennesy, who is a good friend, and co-star of mine on General Hospital, had sent me a direct message on twitter, and it just so happened my cell phone was near my bed that night and I heard it and then I read it, and it said, “Hey girl! Congratulations and I was like, “What is she talking about?” It had slipped my mind. I went “Oh my God”. I was home alone and I was screaming, and I went out of my mind. I wanted to share it with somebody and my daughter was not there, because she was at her dad’s. And it was so sad. I just wanted Jordan to know and my mom to know, but I did not want to wake anybody because they were sound asleep. And so I wrote to Carolyn, because she was the one that was up and knew. (Laughs) And, I went to twitter and saw all these tweets from these fans that follow me there, and they were like “Oh my God. Yay.” I feel so blessed to be in the category with the woman I am nominated with. I am excited about the brunch with the leading ladies.”

“I submitted an episode where I had a lot of different scenes with a lot of different actors. So, I have one or two scenes with Maurice Benard… one or two scenes with Brandon Barash, one with Becky Herbst, and Laura Wright is in the episode as well. I loved the work that they did in the episode, and it moved me to tears when I filmed it, and later again when I watched it. So I thought if my co-stars can move me to tears and being on the outside of it now looking back at it a year later it, then those scenes should hold up with the judges. And, I went with that strategy.”