The Daytime Emmys Honor Mishael Morgan, At Last!

 

Mishael Morgan is all smiles after winning her first Daytime Emmy Award. 

Finally! (In a Ce Ce Peniston voice)

After many, many years of following the Daytime Emmy Awards (and the problematic Primetime Emmys as well), our favorite, love-in-the-afternoon actress, Mishael Morgan has received her well-deserved statuette! About damn time! And she makes huge history as the first Black woman to win Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series! 

The commendable Veronica Webb was the second actress to play Mamie Johnson. 

Daytime Emmy winners Shemar Moore (Malcolm) and Kristoff St. John (Neil) with Daytime Emmy nominees Victoria Rowell (Dru) and Tonya Lee Williams (Olivia). Coincidentally, Tonya Lee Williams has Caribbean ancestry being born to Jamaican parents and raised in Toronto, Canada. Mishael Morgan has Trinidadian parents and was also raised in Toronto, Canada. Williams founded the Reelworld Film Festival in Canada in 2001.

As a little girl watching soap operas with my mother, Young and the Restless was ours to behold, a national treasure if you will. I loved especially the beautiful, brown skinned characters— Olivia, the doctor, Mamie, the housekeeper (whom I always thought would return someday), Malcolm, the photographer, and of course, Neil (the late Kristoff St. John), the corporate executive, and Drucilla, the tough-as-nails glamour model. Yet when it came down to the big awards night, almost every year, Black/biracial women rarely won a thing. As a girl invested in these stories, watching such phenomenal actresses take on scandalous affairs, ferocious cat fights, grief/loss, and still not be victorious in their efforts, it showcased the darker side of daytime television, the glaring mistreatment. Although the brilliant Debbi Morgan won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series back in 1989, hers was tied with Nancy Lee Grahn who famously blasted Viola Davis’s Primetime Emmys 2015 speech. 

From their humble beginnings, tawdry middle (yes the affair that rocked the screen), their once-a-week screen time....

To the end, Hevon was the best couple in Genoa City. 

Ever since Hilary Curtis burst into the Genoa City, Morgan made that vivacious vixen someone to love, sinking her teeth into that role with incredible heart and depth to match. She delivered so much hope and promise, something not seen since Tony and Grammy winner Renee Elise Goldsberry played a terrific lawyer, the criminally underrated Evangeline Williamson on General Hospital— Daytime Emmy nominated twice for her role too. It was always a dull moment when Morgan’s multifaceted Hilary disappeared for a while. Let’s never forget the heartbreaking death that will forever pierce the memories of the devoted Hevon fan base, a real tearjerker, Hilary passing away in Devon’s arms on July 27, 2018. 

And with Mishael Morgan gone off the canvas, fans were determined to get her back on no matter what— hence the birth of the #Fight4Mishael campaign taking off steam! The process, long and grueling, Morgan’s presence utterly missed on screen, everyone waited and hoped, waited and hoped. 

Amanda (Mishael Morgan) turned out to be Hilary’s long lost twin sister. 

And Devon (Bryton James) comforts Amanda as he had for his beloved wife Hilary. 

Morgan, who suffered a tremendous loss last year, perhaps channeled that into this devastating performance. 

On September 18, 2019, Morgan beautifully returned as the sharp dressed lawyer, Amanda Sinclair and dazzled the screen with and without her screen partner two-time Daytime Emmy winner Bryton James. This showcased Morgan’s incredible potential, this fact that Morgan’s charisma turned on for everyone around her. She tested for several pairings until back into the orbit of familiar territory. Still, Amanda’s backstory slowly but surely unfolded as viewers learned that Hilary was Amanda’s twin sister— and that Ann Turner was not their biological mother. Whew! Like Hilary, Amanda can speak another language fluently. It is unknown if she fears cows yet. 

After two previous nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress, Morgan scores a win on her third Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress! 

At the 49th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards, up against previous winners General Hospital’s Laura Wright and Cynthia Watros, five time nominee Arianne Zucker and three time nominee Marci Miller both from Days of Our Lives, Young and the Restless correctly put Mishael Morgan’s hat in this gritty ring. Yes, her competitors were amazing, but Morgan has been on/off the soap for nine years. In between those nine years, a viewer could never say she was not delivering high quality when given that screen time. Thus, when Morgan’s co-workers Christian LeBlanc (Michael Baldwin) and Sean Dominic (Nate Hastings Jr.) announced her name on stage, it was just a precious full circle moment. 

Congratulations again Mishael Morgan, a phenomenal performer who has always put out the best work possible. May it not be the last honor put in her hard earning hands.