This week, the 52nd annual Daytime Emmys will be handed out on Friday, October 17 in ceremonies emanating from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena California, and will be streamed live beginning at 7pm ET/4pm PT via watch.theemmys.tv and The Emmys app.
To get you ready for Daytime’s biggest night of the year, Michael Fairman TV will spotlight some of the nominees and our exclusive conversations with them, more can be found by watching the Michael Fairman Channel’s 11th annual Daytime Emmy nominations special which was a live celebration with this year’s nominees shortly after they found out they were going for gold in 2025.
Vying for the Lead Actress prize finds a crowded field of six actress including: Sharon Case (Sharon), Michelle Stafford (Phyllis), Melissa Claire Egan (Chelsea) and Eileen Davidson (Ashley) from The Young and the Restless, Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis) and Laura Wright (Carly) from General Hospital.
Photo: ABC
Laura Wright told us about how she chose her nominated reel and the scenes in which she was most proud of that landed her in the top 6 as voted on by her peers. Wright is a previous Daytime Emmy Lead Actress winner having taken home the gold statuette back in 2011.
ON CHOOSING HER REEL
“It’s always so daunting and so nerve-wracking to create your reel,” explained Laura. “I didn’t want to come up with 15 minutes because the poor people that have to watch all the nominees. When I vote. I’m like, ‘That better be the best 15 minutes of my life!’ I ended up putting together a nine-minute reel and I remembered this show with Steve Burton (Jason). It was a show where Jason thought he was free of working for the FBI and Jagger Cates (Adam J. Harrington) comes and threatened him again and said he had to go back under cover and leave town. The scene was in Jason’s room. I remember I was in a white blouse, and it was Carly telling him he can’t go, and she is going to turn herself in for insider trading, because there was no way, Carly was going to let Jason leave again.”
Photo: ABC
Laura added, “The scenes were back and forth between the two of us, emotionally. I was kind of blown away by it, because I remember shooting those scenes and we were so tired. It was around the Emmys last year, and we were just exhausted. We were just raw and available, and I fell in love with it. The episode had every single thing that I am proud of who I am as an actor.”
“I can be very critical on my work, but I could just submit this and be a hundred percent proud of whether I’m nominated or not,” said the soap veteran. “I just felt like that particular episode showed w what I do for a living and, and the best of what I can do.”
HONORING JACKIE ZEMAN
General Hospital fans will recall that 2024 kicked-off on a somber note when the show honored the late Jackie Zeman after killing-off the beloved character of Nurse Bobbie Spencer, Carly’s mom. GH delivered two emotionally-packed episodes as part of her memorial. Laura Wright explained that she wanted to pay homage to the iconic star and her on-screen mom in her Emmy reel.
Photo: ABC
“There’s a little bit of Bobbie’s death at the beginning of the reel as I really want to honor Jackie. There was a flashback of me and Jackie, and that was really important to me to have her face seen in my reel. We lost her so suddenly. Losing anyone anyway isn’t easy, and I really wanted Jackie’s spirit with me. I knew I wanted to use the Bobbie material, but I didn’t want it to be all crying. Bobbie’s death was really amazing, and it was well written, and the cast that I worked were so great.” Wright also clarified, she had scenes with Cameron Mathison (Drew) in her reel, where Drew was listening and hugging Carly during the loss of her mom.
WHY IT’S ON-SCREEN MAGIC IN SCENES WITH STEVE BURTON
One of the all-time best ‘ride or die’ friendships in daytime television history has been that of Carly and Jason who for years, and through the different iterations of Carly, have remained each others closest ally, confidants, and at times, even more. Laura Wright revealed how in synch she and her co-star Steve Burton are off-screen, that make Carly and Jason so special on-screen.
Photo: ABC
“It’s not work with Steve and it’s similar with Maurice Benard (Sonny, GH). We just kind of lean into each other. Steve and I rehearse and if there’s something we want to tweak or change, or if there’s something we want to bring even more to it, we discuss it. There’s a wisdom to Steve now (in this stage of his career) that is different. I hope that I carry that as well. Steve is so respected and he hands that right back to other people.”
Laura also shared, “Jason and Carly have an incredible friendship that is so steeped in love that allows us to have this unique connection in the story of, ‘I’ve got your back no matter what,’ and then also allows for great complications in any other relationships that they have.”
WHAT WILL CARLY DO TO BRENNAN WHEN SHE FINDS OUT ABOUT JOSSLYN?
Carly still has no idea that the current love of her life, WSB Port Charles bureau chief, Jack Brennan (Chris McKenna), secretly recruited her daughter, Josslyn Jacks (Eden McCoy) to be a WSB agent, nor does she know that Josslyn shot and killed Cyrus Renault (Jeff Kober), and Jack helped her cover it up!
Photo: JPI
Laura weighed-in on what will happen when the truth comes out: “I think her head pops off her body. She’s going to lose her s**t, and Jason’s going to be like ‘I told you so,’ and Lucas (Van Hansis) is going to be ‘I told you so!’”
So, what do you think about the selection of scenes on Laura’s Daytime Emmy Lead Actress reel? Do you enjoy the chemistry on-screen between Laura and Steve Burton? Ready for what might happen when Carly finds out about Josslyn and Cyrus and Brennan’s part in all of this? Share your thoughts via the comment section below. For more on this year’s Daytime Emmy nominations, check out the Michael Fairman Channel’s livestream with the nominees below.