Last Tuesday, Al Calderon scored the first Emmy nomination of his career for his role as Javi Hernandez on Days of Our Lives.

Calderon name was announced as one of the performers competing for gold in the Emerging Talent in a Daytime Drama Series category at the upcoming 53rd annual Daytime Emmy Awards on October 30.

This week, Calderon chatted live on You Tube’s Michael Fairman Channel for a one-on-one conversation where he discussed: his nominated scenes and time on the Peacock streaming soap opera, his decision to leave DAYS, his role of Nico Silva on Brilliant Minds and its sad cancellation, plus his passing the torch of Javi to Jacob Martinez, who took over the role on-screen on the June 30, 2026 episode of Days of Our Lives.

Photo: JPI

JAVI REVEALS TO LEO THAT HE HAD A DAUGHTER WHO DIED

Al revealed the scenes that comprise his now Emmy-nominated reel have at its epicenter the heartbreaking moments from the September 12, 2025 episode. In it, Javi shares for the first time to Leo (Greg Rikaart) that he had a daughter named Solana, with a woman he was seeing named Sylvia. One fateful day, Sylvia left their child in a car when she went to work and the little girl died. Javi had blamed himself for not being the parent to take his daughter to school that day since he was hungover the night before, therefore it opened up the opportunity for something to happen to the his child, and it did.

The multi-talented actor/singer explained his reel: “It was the scene where he is talking about his daughter to Leo. I also included the scene where Javi goes to talk to Melinda (Tina Huang) and to see if it would be a viable option to adopt, because I wanted to introduce the subtlety and nuance of why Javi kind of has this whole connection to Tesoro, in a way.”

It is true that Al can bring the tears and make us cry right along with him during his run as Javi.  To that, Calderon added, “I’ve read the comments that I’m a little bit of a crybaby, so I didn’t want the entire reel to be of me crying, but I wanted it to show a little bit of an emotional range of the restraint that Javi was feeling so I included that scene

In addition Calderon shared, “I also included a really beautiful scene with Cherie Jimenez (Gabi Hernandez, DAYS) where I’m looking at photos of Tesoro, and of course, Javi is crying. I just wanted to show the relationship between Javi and his family as well, and as I mentioned the reveal of the child that he lost.”

Photo: JPI

ALUMS AL CALDERON AND ALICE HALSEY REPRESENT DAYS OF OUR LIVES IN EMERGING TALENT CATEGORY

In a twist of fate, Calderon is also nominated in the Emerging Talent category with Alice Halsey who played Rachel Black. Halsey is currently starring in the reboot of Little House on the Prairie in the lead role of Laura Ingalls on Netflix.

As to his hope on Emmy night, Al expressed, “Of course, I want to win, but Alice Halsey is going to give me a run for the money. And if’s not me (who wins the award), it better be her!”

You can check out the full interview with Al below.

Now let us know, do you remember Al’s emotional scenes when he explained to Leo he had a daughter who died, which made it all the more heartbreaking to not end up with permanent custody of Tesoro? What do you think of Al’s chances to win the gold based on his Emmy scene selection? Do you miss him as Javi? Weigh-in via the comment section.

On the latest edition of Soapy Hosted by Rebecca Budig and Greg Rikaart which dropped on Tuesday, July 21, Emily O’Brien is the featured guest. As soap fans know, Emily has worked with Rikaart both in her first soap role on The Young and the Restless as Jana Hawkes and now on Days of Our Lives in her current role of Gwen Rizczech.

While Emily continues on DAYS, she has very impressive list of credits in the other part of her career as a voice-over actress and one in motion-capture in some of the most popular video games in the world.

O’Brien was first seen on The Young and the Restless back in 2006. She recalled her landing the role which eventually paired her for her five year run with Greg Rikaart.

Photo: JPI

BEING CAST ON THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS

“The role was just a few days and she wasn’t even supposed to be English,” Emily recalled. “The role was originally called Jade. Karen Rae, the casting director of The Young and the Restless at the time said to me “Oh, you’re from England. Try it with the dialect.” I put it on and she said, ‘I’m going to bring you back at like 3 for s callback.’ So then they changed the role to Jana and they said she’s going to be a Brit. I was only supposed to be on for like five episodes and it turned into 5 years.”

In explaining why she loved crazy Jana, Emily shared, “Jana was sort of like the misanthrope. She was just was the odd one out and I loved it. I felt so comfortable playing that because she was just eclectic and weird and she loved playing with Ouija boards and she rode a motorbike. There was just so much color to bring to her. It was just such a great match to play with Greg (Kevin), and Christian LeBlanc (Michael) and Tracey Bregman (Lauren).

Photo: JPI

GWEN, DIMITRI AND LEO ON DAYS OF OUR LIVES

On Days of Our Lives, the Leo, Gwen, Dimitri dynamic is quite unique and been through many schemes and entanglements. Often Emily finds herself in repartee with her ex-lover, Dimitri, who turned out to be gay and then had a thing for her bestie, Leo (Greg Rikaart)!

During the conversation, Greg and Emily sang, Peter Porte’s praised with O’Brien expressing, “Peter is just ready to play. He comes on set prepared. I’ve never seen him with his script. From blocking and rehearsals, he doesn’t have it. He’s prepared. He’s a physical actor and he always trying to come up with something. I think he let me slap him. He let me kiss him. He let me throw a cheeseburger in his lap. He’s ready for anything for anything.”

You can catch the full episode of ‘Soapy; featuring Emily O’Brien below where the actress also talks about replacing Jen Lilley as Theresa Donovan after being let go as Gwen; and being paired again with Greg Rikaart on the Peacock streaming soap opera this time as best friends and more.

So, were you a big Jana Hawkes and Kevin Fisher fan on Y&R? Did you like them as a couple? Do you like the dynamic between Emily and Peter Porte and Greg Rikaart on DAYS? Weigh-in via the comment section below.

Al Calderon, the OG Javi Hernandez, scored his first ever Daytime Emmy nomination last Tuesday when the nominations were unveiled in full by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) for the upcoming 53rd annual Daytime Emmy Awards.

Now, Calderon will be vying for the gold in the Outstanding Emerging Talent in a Daytime Drama Series category. Nominated alongside Al were: Braedyn Bruner (as Emma Scorpio-Drake), General Hospital, Alice Halsey (as Rachel Black), Days of Our Lives, Giovanni Mazza (as Gio Palmieri), General Hospital, Ambyr Michelle (as Eva Thomas), Beyond the Gates and Arielle Prepetit (as Naomi Hamilton Hawthorne), Beyond the Gates.

Tomorrow on Tuesday, July 21, Al will chat live on You Tube’s Michael Fairman Channel in a special conversation, not only to get his reactions and thoughts to becoming an official Emmy nominee, but also to talk about his run as DAYS Javi, which came to an end last month on-screen (Days of our Lives tapes ten months ahead of dropping new episodes, and Calderon had exited the series in 2025).

Photo: JPI

AL CALDERON WRITES HEARTFELT POST TO HIS LATE MOTHER

Previously Al shared the news of his nominations on his Instagram with a special acknowledgement to his late mother. Calderon expressed, “Hi mom, it’s me. I got nominated for an Emmy today. I hope you can be my date while you’re watching over me.
I’m honored to be recognized and even considered to be able to put my name in the ring. Thank you to my family Days of Our Lives family. for the opportunity. Latino gang baby.”

Currently on DAYS, Jacob Martinez has taken over the role of Javi starting with the June 30th episode. When Calderon exited his time on the Peacock streaming soap, he stayed within the NBCUniversal family nabbing the role of nurse Nico Silva on the second season of the medical drama, Brilliant Minds starring Zachary Quinto.

Photo: NBC

FROM DAYS OF OUR LIVES TO BRILLIANT MINDS TO AN EMMY NOMINATION

Before the back-half of the last six episodes of the season of Brilliant Minds began to air at the end of May, NBC decided to cancel the show and the possibility of a renewal for a third season came to an end.

Currently, Calderon is continuing to also pursue a career as a musical artist through his singing and songwriter; having released in 2026, the single and music video to his track, SMOKE and more.

If you have a question or comment for Al, but cannot be with us during the live broadcast, you can drop it in the comment section below and we may just ask it while on-air.

The live chat begins tomorrow at 8 pm ET/5pm PT, and if you haven’t “subscribed” to the Michael Fairman Channel for upcoming celebrity features, livestreams and special event coverage, we urge you to do so, that way you can be notified ahead of our guest appearances.

So, were you thrilled for Al that he received a Daytime Emmy nomination for his work as Javi on DAYS? Have you enjoyed his performances on the soap opera and on primetime in Brilliant Minds? Let us know via the comment section below.