Days of our Lives' Camila Banus (ex-Gabi Hernandez) is a front-runner in this year's Emmy race, with most of the Soap Central team predicting she'll take home the gold. But how does Banus feel about her chances? What was going through her mind the day she shot the emotional scenes? And what's this about a top-secret project? Find out in Soap Central's interview with the Florida native below.
soapcentral.com: Congratulations, pretty lady! The Emmy madness has officially begun, so are you ready to go and have your Emmy dress picked out?
Camila Banus: I do. Every day I have people who say, "I have your Emmy dress," and then they send me a picture, and I'm like, "No, I already got mine!" And then I'll see it, and I think, "Could it be better?! Could it be better?" But then I always go back to it.
soapcentral.com: You're always a stunner on the carpet. You take risks, and you own it.
Banus: Aw, thank you. I feel like the dress I have on was a bit of a risk for me for the cocktail party, but I loved it. It's very 20s and interesting.
soapcentral.com: I was super moved by the scenes you chose for your reel. It was stunning work. How do you feel about getting the nomination? Has it been a crazy ride?
Banus: For me, being nominated is a win. I'm so happy and honored to be in the category that I'm in and to represent the show. But also to represent me and the work I've done and my family, who have sacrificed so much for me and helped me in so many ways. I'm super honored to be a Latina representing in this category.
soapcentral.com: Did you immediately know those would be the scenes you would choose?
Banus: When I shot them, that day, there were cameramen who came up to me and said, "These are your Emmy scenes." I had a producer send me an email that said, "This is the most amazing work I've ever seen you do." So from that day, I had a lot of people encouraging that. And the fans, when the scenes came out, a lot of them responded very positively towards the scenes and wanted me to submit it for the reel, and a lot of them asked, actually, if that's what I submitted. And they're happy that I did, because they were really great scenes.
soapcentral.com: Do you remember the day you filmed them and how you got to that emotional point?
Banus: It was an out-of-body experience [laughs]. It was a really stressful week. It was the last week for me, and I was feeling a lot of emotions. There were even some days I was driving to work, and I would just start crying. And it was a really emotional week for me. I really wanted to be off the show, but I had like 300 of the closest people I know giving me compliments every day until the last minute I left. So it was like the most heartbreaking, most wonderful week of my life. So that's why I had so many days where I would just leave and feel overwhelmingly happy, or I would cry and be sad that I was going to miss these people. That was really hard. But I've had great opportunities off of the show, and I'm happy I left. But I do miss my family at DAYS.
soapcentral.com: What made you want to leave? Was it just to experience other things?
Banus: Yeah, I was just on a Christmas movie with Molly Ringwald and Chevy Chase called Wishing and Hoping. I just shot Hawaii Five-0 with Christopher Sean [Paul Narita, DAYS]. It was so funny, because I was in the makeup room in Hawaii, and they were like, "Wait, you're on DAYS?" And I said, "Yeah, I used to be." And they said, "Really? Our guy is on DAYS!" And I said, "What do you mean your guy? He's a DAYS guy now!" So that was really nice. Everybody was welcoming me as if they already knew me, which was really great.
soapcentral.com: Would you ever consider going to another soap, or are you just done with daytime in general?
Banus: I've been getting a lot of tweets from fans of General Hospital for me as Kristina Davis. I don't even know the character, but I'm getting a lot of tweets about that. It's a bizarre situation, but it's great.
soapcentral.com: That would be fun. Either way, I'm happy you've been busy with work and things are happening.
Banus: I'm going to say one thing -- I have a top secret project that I'll be announcing on Sunday. You're going to hear about it -- it'll be something really fun. So wait for it!
Do you think Banus will take home an Emmy this year? What do you think her top-secret project could be? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
