Daytime Emmys add emerging talent and weigh a 2027 return

By Tom Whitfield

Six actors are nominated for Best Emerging Talent, while NATAS is considering whether to restore a separate Younger Performer category in 2027.

Who is in the new field?

Most actors in Best Emerging Talent’s short history would otherwise have competed for the now-retired Best Younger Performer category. This year’s six nominees divide evenly across three programs:

• General Hospital: Braedyn Bruner as Emma and Giovanni Mazza as Gio.
• Days of Our Lives: Al Calderon as the former Javi and Alice Halsey as the former Rachel.
• Beyond the Gates: Ambyr Michelle as Eva and Arielle Prepetit as Naomi.

Alice Halsey, now Laura Ingalls in Netflix’s Little House on the Prairie, said she was thrilled by this first nomination and that Best Emerging Talent filled the gap left by Best Younger Performer. She said: "I am honored to be the only kid nominated this year among such an incredible group of adult actors!"

The category also revives the idea behind Robert Evans’ 1994 memoir The Kid Stays in the Picture: at the Daytime Emmys, the kid remains on the ballot.

Halsey’s reel showed Rachel’s darker side. Rachel manipulated her cousin Thomas, a past Daytime Emmy nominee played by Cary Christopher, into attacking his father’s girlfriend. She also pleaded with her father not to abandon her in Bayview, the mental hospital in Salem.

Halsey is the only nominee calling herself a kid; the other five are adults.

What changed in the acting categories?

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences introduced two younger-performer categories in 1985 as teen soap characters took on adult storylines. Tracey Bregman (Lauren, The Young and the Restless) and Brian Bloom (Dusty, As the World Turns) won the inaugural awards.

As the number of soap operas declined, NATAS combined the awards into Best Younger Performer, then retired it after Eden McCoy won for Josslyn on General Hospital in 2023.

Best Emerging Talent debuted last year, with Lisa Yamada, who played the psychotic Luna on The Bold and the Beautiful, as its first winner. The category accepts actors of all ages at any career stage, but each entrant must be new to daytime soap operas.

Rachel Schwartz, NATAS’ head of Daytime and Children’s & Family, said two forces shaped the rule: Helen Gallagher’s death and similar Emerging Talent categories in NATAS’ other Emmy competitions.

Gallagher, a three-time Daytime Emmy winner for Best Lead Actress as Maeve Ryan on Ryan’s Hope, reached daytime television in 1975 after two Tony wins. She ended the series in 1989 by looking into the camera and ad-libbing, "Have a good life!"

Schwartz said the new category should celebrate and reward performers moving into daytime soaps.

Olivia d’Abo, who plays Fifi Garrett on the award-winning web series The Bay, joined the inaugural nominees. Schwartz praised d’Abo’s 1980s and early-1990s work on The Wonder Years, said NATAS was glad she had entered daytime and called her an example of what the category embodies.

Best Emerging Talent gives new daytime performers an all-age route to recognition.

Why did the youth categories matter?

The former brackets gave early-career actors nominations, wins and protected competition before they faced the established stars in open lead and supporting categories. Some later built careers beyond daytime; others remained in soaps.

Martha Byrne, who won Best Ingenue in 1987 for Lily Walsh on As the World Turns, called the younger categories wise because young competitors faced Erika Slezak as Viki on One Life to Live and Susan Lucci as Erica on All My Children.

Christian LeBlanc, a three-time winner as Michael on The Young and the Restless, told Variety in 2011 that younger actor and actress categories should disappear. He argued that strong young performers could compete with established actors, citing Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense and Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit at the Oscars.

An unnamed Daytime Emmy-winning producer said young soap performers struggle to adjust to pace and nuance while making solid acting choices opposite veterans. Facing actors twice or three times their age creates a major hurdle to recognition and Emmy gold, the producer said, adding that young performers deserve better.

Alfonso Ribeiro, nominated in 1985, said his nominations as Rick on The Bold and the Beautiful and his 2002 win as Lucky on General Hospital gave him encouragement to keep improving. He called nomination a great honor and said doing work he loved mattered. He supports another youth category, wants young performers recognized alongside their peers, and welcomes Best Emerging Talent at any age.

The old brackets supplied a career foothold that the all-age field no longer guarantees.

What would a 2027 return require?

Potential 2027 candidates include Ethan Ray Clark as Dominic on The Young and the Restless, Gary James Fuller as James on General Hospital, and Lorelei Olivia Mote as Rachel on Days of Our Lives. All delivered notable performances this year.

Daytime talent manager Michael Bruno supports restoration if three strong young soap performers emerge; otherwise, he says, do not revive it.

Schwartz said NATAS reviews its annual canvas for trends such as younger performers and guest stars, then looks ahead after the current awards cycle.

The return remains possible; Bruno says NATAS should act only if three young soap performers supply a strong field.