Saturday Soapy Flashback: NAACP Image Award For Outstanding Acting in a Daytime Drama

If Victoria Rowell aka The Young and the Restless’s Drucilla Barber was nominated, the other soap opera actress nominees had no chance against her at the NAACP Image Awards. She played the role on/off from 1990-2007.

Last night, the 51st Daytime Emmys aired, the last sole honor for talented soap opera actors to grasp an accolade for their proficient ability to act out three-hundred page scripts on the daily. Some are very, very good at it. Others are obvious models who believe they have what it takes beyond looking beautiful. Unfortunately, actors of color— rarely preferred over the predominantly white nominees— felt a disappointing absence when the NAACP Image Awards stopped awarding the Outstanding Actor and Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series in 2015. The category was introduced post-Generations in January 1994– with The Young and the Restless’s Victoria Rowell and the late Kristoff St. John not having competition for the first two years of its inception. 

The Young and the Restless has eighteen wins out of twenty-one victories for actors and nineteen of twenty-two for actresses. No male actor was nominated in 1995. 

Years after One Life to Live’s Al Freeman Jr. won the first ever acting Daytime Emmy Award for a Black actor in 1979, All My Children’s Debbi Morgan was next in line. Her 1989 win, however, was shared. She won Image Awards in 2009 and 2010.

Yes, it would be fair to criticize the Image Awards for its obvious preference— Rowell has a whopping eleven wins including a few consecutive runs, St. John has ten, Shemar Moore has six, and Tatyana Ali has four. All My Children received love in the Best Actor category circa 2010, 2011, and 2012– likely because St. John wasn’t competing. Passions scored a win in 2007 for Tracey Ross (Eve Russell) and All My Children held back to back wins for Debbi Morgan’s return as Angie Baxter. 

The late Kristoff St. John won the first (1994) and the last (2014) honor in the category for portraying Neil Winters on The Young and the Restless (1991-2019).

There are only these categories per year. No supporting because quite frankly, that is the role most minorities are granted onscreen anyway— props to the leads. Still, plentiful performances were robbed of receiving recognition from that time forward including those who kept being nominated, favored for the aforementioned repeat winners. It’s on the same tier as so and so having five Best Lead trophies at the Daytime Emmys.

Currently, four soap operas are airing (Days of Our Lives is behind a paywall streaming service Peacock) until The Gates— the first primarily cast Black soap opera to air since Generations— will perhaps help boost up this dwindling genre. Although there’s no chance in heaven that the NAACP will resurrect this category, let’s look back on some who were nominated and never won versus the others coming up behind post removal.


Memorable Past Nominees

The late Kamar de los Reyes (featured in the In Memoriam segment) was nominated once for playing Antonio Vega on One Life to Live (1995-2009) and won an Alma Award in 2008. He guest starred on SEAL Team, Sleepy Hollow, The Rookie, and The Passage and films Love & Suicide and First Strike Butcher Knife. His last appearance was Coach Montes on All American and the upcoming Washington Black. 

Renee Elise Goldsberry was twice nominated for playing Evangeline Williamson on One Life to Life (2004-2007) and won a Soap Opera Digest Award for being in a lopsided love triangle. Since Goldsberry’s controversial end to the role, she’s won a Tony and Grammy and received nominations for a Critics Choice, Black Reel, and Primetime Emmy (a win here would make her an Oscar win away from EGOT status).

Retired actress Renée Jones was nominated five times for playing Stefano DiMera’s reformed daughter Lexie Carter on Days of Our Lives (1993-2012). She also played an earlier character, Nikki Wade on the soap in 1982.

Amelia Marshall was nominated three times for playing Belinda Jeffries on All My Children (1996-1999). She later moved onto the villainous Liz on Passions (2001-2004) only receiving a Soap Opera Digest nod. 

Karla Mosley was nominated once for playing Maya Avant Forester— the center of the most powerful Black story ever told on Bold and the Beautiful (2013-2019). Mosley has since starred and produced short films including the Wed-locked web series with Bold and the Beautiful and Guiding Light co-star Lawrence St. Victor.  

Peter Parros was nominated twice for playing Dr. Benjamin Harris on As the World Turns (1997-2009). Prior to, he held roles on One Life to Live and The Young and the Restless. He continues to guest star on various television series.   

Nathan Purdee— the original Nate Hastings on The Young and the Restless (1986-1993)— was nominated seven times as the District Attorney Hank Gannon on One Life to Live (1992-2009).

Timothy Stickney—a gifted thespian— was twice nominated for playing villain R. J. Gannon (Hank’s younger brother) on One Life to Live (1994-2009) and won a Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Villain. Stickney has guest starred on various television series including Evil and Elementary and is a theatre practitioner.

Theatre actress Tamara Tunie was nominated twice for playing Attorney Jessica Griffin on As the World Turns (1987-1999). Tunie also played medical examiner Melinda Warner for twenty-one years on Law & Order SVU, worked with the phenomenal Denzel Washington twice (co-starred with him in Flight and co-starred in his directed Journal for Jordan). She has been received the Reel Sisters Trailblazer Award in 2017.

 

The trophy. 

The Never Will Be Nominated

Tabyana Ali currently plays the third Trina Robinson on General Hospital (2022-present) and there’s a lot of promise when the writers give Trina stories. Ali— a comedian— has guest starred on New Girl and the Horror Noire anthology. She wrote a short film screenplay Before it’s Too Late. 

Sean Blakemore, Daytime Emmy Award winner played Shawn Butler on General Hospital (2003-2022), first starting out as another character Chase Wright. Blackmore has since starred in many shows All Rise, Greenleaf, and Quad. He also co-starred with Shemar Moore in the scandalous x-rated drama Motives and the sequel in addition to S.W.A.T.

Tanya Boyd played Celeste Perrault, the sensuous oracle and sidekick to Stefano DiMera on Days of Our Lives (1994-2007). Boyd never fully received her props for bringing a Grace Jones like vibe to Salem. Meanwhile, she guest starred on many classic shows such as What’s Happening!!, Good Times, A Different World. She also directed two short films, Supremacy (2011) and Hold Up (2004). 

The late Sonya Eddy played the wise, scene-stealing Nurse Epiphany Johnson on General Hospital (2006-2022). Eddy guest-starred in various shows— Everybody Hates Chris, Black Jesus, The Black Lady Sketch Show, etc. She won a Daytime Emmy posthumously— from her first nomination. 

Jason George played the lovable doofus lifeguard Michael Bourne on Sunset Beach (1997-1999) and received a Daytime Emmy nomination. George has been seen on Girlfriends (Toe Sucking Charles is unforgettable, sorry), Eve, Roswell, and Half & Half. Currently, he stars on the Grey’s Anatomy spinoff Station 19. 

Even though most characters listed here are “goodie types,” Dominique Jennings deserved some recognition for playing the kooky Virginia Harrison on Sunset Beach (1997-1999). 

Napiera Groves as adult Bonnie McKechnie #1 on As the World Turns (2001-2004). Groves had a small part in Jordan Peale’s Us and directed/produced the full Kickstarter backed short film Aisle 2. 

Lauren B. Martin played breast cancer survivor Camille Bennett on As the World Turns (1998-2001). Martin also starred in other soaps: Another World, All My Children, and Guiding Light. Currently, she is an award-winning producer behind Anacostia, Asunder, and Reality Sets In and has several independent projects on the works. 

Sidney Mikaela, two-time Daytime Emmy nominee, played the second Trina Robinson on General Hospital (2019-2022). Mikaela is mostly remembered for playing a young Gabby Douglas in The Gabby Douglas Story and has lent her voice to animated series: Dew Drop Diaries, Fright Krewe, and Hailey’s On It! 

Mishael Morgan— first Black woman to win a leading actress in a Daytime Series Emmy and a femfilmrogue favorite— played Hilary Curtis and twin Amanda Sinclair on Young and the Restless (2013-2018 and 2019-2024 respectively). Morgan has starred in a few films and produced award nominated Sway. 

Sherri Saum played Vanessa Hart, the nosy, resourceful reporter on Sunset Beach (1997-1999) and the criminal sociology professor Keri Reynolds on One Life to Live (2001-2003). Saum starred in the hit ABC Family drama The Fosters and recently directed an episode of the spinoff Good Trouble. She also made appearances in How To Get Away With Murder, Girlfriends, and  Mrs. Davis.

Veronica Redd played the fabulous Mamie Johnson #2 off/on Young and the Restless (1990-1995, 1999-2004, 2023-present)— Jill Abbott’s best other nemesis next to the late Jeanne Cooper’s Katherine Chancellor. The first Black actor to receive a contract from The Young and the Restless, Redd also guest starred in various shows— Living Single, 227, The Jeffersons, and The Women of Brewster Place and films: The Five Heartbeats and Bluehill Avenue. 

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.