When the nominees were announced last week for the 51st annual Daytime Emmy Awards, six women wound up in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series category and that included The Bold and the Beautiful’s Annika Noelle (Hope Logan) who had quite the heavy on-screen story.

For months, Hope initially tried to hold her marriage to Liam (Scott Clifton) together, gave into her passion for Thomas (Matthew Atkinson), and became a stronger more independent woman in the process. Noelle was previously nominated in 2020 in the Outstanding Supporting Actress category, but this marks her first-time presence in the highly-coveted Lead Actress race.

On Friday, April 26th, The Bold and the Beautiful celebrated their leading 12 nominations, as well as being the show with the most acting nominations going into the 51st annual Daytime Emmy Awards set to air live on Friday, June 7 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

Photo: JPI

During the on set celebration, when B&B’s Emmy-nominated executive producer and head writer, Brad Bell, introduced each of the acting nominees, they took a moment to address their colleagues, and for Annika, her speech was touching and emotional. She expressed, “I’m so grateful to Brad Bell for believing in this dark brunette, and allowing me to be a part of this family. And when we say that we’re a family, it’s not just because we get along. It is really because we are here for the majority of the year with each other. I know for a lot of people, 2023, was a difficult year.  The thing about this beautiful show is that it was my constant, and it’s what I could depend on during a tough year. And there are beautiful days like this when you come in and everything in your life is going amazingly. And then, there are days where your world is falling apart. And the crew, honestly, you guys kept me afloat this year and that’s why this is so meaningful to me.”

Photo: MFTV Inc

Annika added, “I don’t think I could have gotten through this year without the love and support from this family. So, thank you for being there for me on days that I needed the strength and you gave that to me. I’m so grateful to my co-stars and who I get to share these beautiful scenes with. I just wanted to say, I appreciate all of you and thank you so much. You all mean more to me than you will ever know.”

Michael Fairman TV caught up with Annika immediately following the Emmy nominee celebration, to her thoughts on this momentous occasion in her professional life and what it means to her personally, plus what did she choose for her scenes when Hope had such, shall we say, a torrid year of story to choose from. Here’s what she shared below.

Photo: JPI

Dare I say, I called this nomination for you? Back on New Year’s Eve, I revealed My “Best Of” Picks for 2023 and I had you as the Best Overall Performance by an Actress for the year, and alongside your fellow nominee, Cynthia Watros (Nina, GH), to boot!

ANNIKA: Thank you for believing in me that I could do it.

How did you to tackle your Emmy-nominated reel and what you were hoping to showcase?

ANNIKA: I was just so grateful to have the story to be able to pick from, and to really try to show the character growth and the arc of everything that happened to Hope Logan in the past year. For me, I really wanted to take the voters on a journey from her really being heavily influence by everyone’s opinions and everyone else’s voices, to her really coming into her own and going, “I don’t care if it’s the right or wrong choice, it’s my choice.”

Photo: JPI

What scenes did you end up submitting the landed you this Lead Actress Emmy nomination?

ANNIKA: I started with this great scene that our producers, Casey Kaspryzk and Rachel Herman actually remembered, where Hope walks in on her mother in her lingerie flirting with Ridge. And they remembered that scene. So, that really launched us off to Hope being kind of in this deep denial of, “I’m nothing like you. I’m not going to follow in your footsteps. I don’t have feelings for Thomas.” Cut to Liam confronting her about watching her give into her desires in Rome. And him saying, “Where were you Hope? At the Colosseum?” and then kind of in a roundabout full circle way, Brooke finding Thomas and Hope in bed together and then Hope really kind of going toe to toe with her mother. Then, ending with her kind of fully coming into her own as a woman and saying, “You wanted a divorce, Liam, here’s your divorce.” I really wanted to show the journey of her finding her own voice and advocating for her own choices and finding that inner strength, basically.

Photo: JPI

Was choosing the reel difficult given you had so much material within the 2023 calendar year of eligibility to consider?

ANNIKA: It was hard to pick and choose. There were a few I ended up leaving out. There was a really beautiful scene with Thomas where she realizes he overheard her kind of talking ill of him. That one was really hard to let go of.  I was also considering another scene with Liam where they actually signed the divorce papers. I’m just so grateful to even be able to have the material to choose from.

Photo: JPI

How did you find out you were nominated?

ANNIKA: Eva Basler, our VP of Communications & Talent Relations, called me and it meant so much to me to get that call from her. I tend to get nervous and have anxiety, so that day I just had to not think about it. So, I was out on a walk with my love, and my dog. We’re just in the middle of a cul-de-sac and my phone starts ringing. And it was the best surprise ever! Then, when I found out that Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke, B&B) got nominated alongside me, I immediately FaceTimed her. It was the funniest thing because she literally picks up and she is wearing a sun visor and sunglasses wrapped up on top of a horse as she’s in the middle of a mountain and in a valley on this beautiful white horse. It was the most picturesque thing.

Photos: ABC, JPI, NBC

I believe you know some of the women you are nominated with, obviously Katherine, but also Tamara Braun (Ava, Days), Finola Hughes, (Anna, GH), Cynthia Watros (Nina, GH) and Michelle Stafford (Phyllis, Y&R). What are your thoughts on these nominees?

ANNIKA: Well first, I’m just so excited to be in this category with the other women. Tamara Braun, who I was nominated with previously in the Supporting Actress category I’m excited that she’s in this category with me. Michelle Stafford, who I see in the hallway all the time, is great, and Finola Hughes, I’m just like obsessed with from afar. I even watched her on Watch What Happens Live!  Cynthia, I hear her work is tremendous, and with Katherine, I’m just really grateful to get to share this with her. To be honored amongst these legends of daytime is amazing. Just to be seen in that way, that means more to me than anything.

Photo: JPI

You mentioned during B&B’s on-set Emmy celebration that this past year was a difficult one for you, and that everyone at the show really helped you through it. What meaning would winning the Emmy hold for you?

ANNIKA: That would be overwhelming. I wouldn’t even know how to describe it – an honor, a privilege, a blessing? It would mean the world to me, especially after this past year. That’s why it’s so significant, because even on the darkest days, the storms passes. You just have to hold on for that brighter day.

So, what did you think about the scenes Annika submitted for Lead Actress? Were they some of your favorite moments from the Emmy season? Share your thoughts via the comment section below.

Coming up on this Friday’s April 26th episode of The Bold and the Beautiful, Juliet Vega, the stepdaughter to Sean Kanan will make an appearance on the CBS daytime drama series in the role of Michele.

Keeping it “All in the Family”, the character is named after Juliet’s real-life mother, and Kanan’s wife, writer and producer, Michele Kanan.

Back in 2012, Sean married Michele Vega and thus began their blended family which included his daughter, Simone, and Michelle’s children, Peter, Gigi, and her twins, Annie and Juliet.

Photo: JPI

According to a B&B show spokesperson, Juliet’s B&B character is intentionally named Michele in honor of her mother and Sean’s wife.

While we don’t know how “Michele” shows up in story, it is the same episode that Clint Howard makes an appearance as well seemingly tied to the case of where in the world is Sheila Carter (Kimberlin Brown)?

Photo: CBS

We can’t imagine that Juliet wouldn’t get the opportunity to mix it up on-screen with her stepdad, Sean Kanan. Previously, the two acted together in Sean’s streaming series Studio City, where she played the role of Delilah and he played soap actor, Sam Stevens. In it, Delilah is the bio-daughter Sam never knew he had.

So, looking forward to seeing Juliet on B&B and how ‘Michele’ turns up in the story? Comment below.

On Friday’s April 19th episode of The Bold and the Beautiful, Lauren (Tracey E. Bregman) and Deacon (Sean Kanan) make a stunning realization, and viewers of the CBS soap opera can also give themselves a round of applause for figuring out the mystery surrounding (Kimberlin Brown) Sheila’s ‘death’, or at least a part of it.

At Il Giardino, Lauren and Deacon are getting into a heated exchange over Sheila. Going over the events that transpired with Lauren, Deacon tells her what he saw in the crematorium when the sheet lifted up revealing that the deceased person had ten toes, not nine as Sheila had.

Then, Deacon asks a freaked out Lauren, what she knows about Sugar? He reveals, “Sheila was texting with her before she went to Steffy’s.” Deacon begs Lauren to tell him. Lauren says the Sugar she knows couldn’t possibly be texting Sheila or anyone else for that matter because she’s in jail.

Photo: JPI

A reluctant Lauren finally tells Deacon what she knows about the sordid backstory of Sheila and Sugar. Lauren begins, “Sheila met her in prison. She was her warden.” She then goes into how they resurfaced in Genoa City and how Sheila was locked up in a mental ward. Confused and trying to follow along, Deacon looks shocked.  That’s when Lauren says he will be blown away by the rest of the story.

As they sit, Lauren explains that all that time she thought it was Sheila who was locked up, she learned that it wasn’t her in the mental institution. That is when we are treated to a flashback. It was there that Sheila admits to Lauren that when she and Sugar escaped the prison, they fled to South America, where Sugar sacrificed her face. Sugar thought she was going in for a facelift, but Sheila was able to buy off corrupt doctors to have Sugar’s face altered to look exactly like Sheila.

Courtesy/CBS

Deacon gulps, “What are you telling me, Lauren?” Lauren says, “That there’s someone out there who looks exactly like Sheila. Someone with ten toes.” Vindicated, Deacon shouts, “I was right. It wasn’t Sheila who got cremated. She’s alive! My, God! Sheila’s alive!”

So, the search will be for Sheila starting with next week’s episodes of B&B. Do you think somehow Sheila will wind up in the orbit of Lauren if she has been in hiding since Steffy ‘killed” her in self-defense?  Is Sheila kidnapped somewhere? Share your thoughts via the comment section, but first, look at the set-up of Deacon learning about Sheila and Sugar’s past from Lauren.