Eligibility for the Outstanding Younger Performer category underwent another change for 2023 -- and it resulted in one of this year's nominees having to bow out of the competition. In 2019, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences merged the Younger Actor and Actress categories into a single, gender-inclusive category. In 2021, NATAS announced that by 2023 the upper age limit for the Younger Performer category would be 18 years of age. The age limit had been 25.
That opened the door for an interesting set of nominees -- two that are probably usually in bed by the time the Daytime Emmy ceremony airs, and another that just eked by on the age eligibility. But don't let the age disparity lead you to believe that this category was in any way a shoo-in for winner Eden McCoy.
"I'm super-proud of everybody in my category," McCoy told Soap Central. "It's interesting to now be the oldest person in the category -- I used to be the youngest!"
McCoy has been playing the role of Josslyn Jacks on General Hospital since she was 11, so GH viewers have watched the young actress grow into a young woman right before their eyes. Viewers have also seen the material McCoy has played go from summer camp hijinks to someone secretly recording her having sex with her boyfriend and leaking that video on the Internet.
"This is literally a dream come true," McCoy said as she accepted her Emmy. "I am indebted to the GH writers, producers, directors, [casting director] Mark Teschner, and [executive producer] Frank Valentini."
"I just want to say it's not lost on me what an absolute privilege it is to be able to do something not only I like to do, but love to do for a living. And I love what I do. So, it's really easy to be grateful on nights like this, but I am grateful every day."
Later, McCoy confessed that she "blacked out immediately" upon hearing her name announced as the winner. "Then [I] remembered that I had to actually get on stage and say something. I hope what I said was okay because I don't remember what it was!"
Only two soaps have picked up wins in this category since it became gender neutral. Days of our Lives won twice in a row, and now General Hospital has won in each of the past two years.
In recent years, the Guest Performer category has been a who's who of well-known daytime stars -- some previous Emmy winners. This year's class was no different. The nominees included an actor known for a 28-year-run on Guiding Light, an Emmy winner known for roles on two soaps, an actor nominated for playing a role he'd previously played for six years, a first-time nominee, and an actress known for playing "America's mom."
The Emmy went to Alley Mills, perhaps best-known to audiences as Norma Arnold on the hit ABC comedy series The Wonder Years. And the role that won the Emmy for Mills couldn't be more unlike her Wonder Years role. What exactly is that role? Perhaps it's best to let Mills describe it.
"A seriously traumatized person who kills a lot of people -- but she's got a heart of gold," Mills said to laughter from the audience. "I promise you! And she's barreling towards the light all the time."
Mills explained that she had landed the role of Heather Webber on General Hospital shortly after the death of her long-time husband, Orson Bean. Playing Heather gave her the ability to keep going.
"The world is so screwed up right now, that all I can say is to all you traumatized people out there, just keep barreling toward the light."
Despite an illustrious career, this marked Mills's first-ever Daytime Emmy nomination. And while she hadn't won an Emmy herself previously, Mills told Soap Central that she once got to accept a Primetime Emmy for The Wonder Years -- but she had to give it to the actual winners.
With Mills's win, General Hospital has tied The Bold and the Beautiful -- the other soap that Mills calls home -- with four wins in the Guest Performer category.
