Is The Daytime Emmys’ Emerging Talent Category Really About Emerging Talent?

Al Calderon, Ambyr Michelle, Arielle Prepetit - Michael Tullberg/Getty/CBS

When the Daytime Emmys introduced the Outstanding Emerging Talent in a Daytime Drama Series category, the goal seemed straightforward: to create a new way to recognize performers who are just beginning their journey in daytime television. 

But there is one problem with the category that deserves more attention: what happens when an “emerging talent” is already an established actor?

The category, introduced at the 52nd Daytime Emmy Awards, replaced the former Outstanding Younger Performer category. Rather than establishing an age requirement, the new award focuses on performers appearing in their first contract with a daytime drama. That means an actor can have years, or even decades, of professional experience and still qualify as “emerging” simply because they are new to the soap opera world. 

On paper, that makes sense. Daytime drama is a unique form of television, and entering the genre can be a new challenge even for an accomplished performer. But it also creates an uncomfortable question about fairness. 

Should a performer with a long resume really be competing against an 18-, 19, or 20-year-old actor who is only beginning a professional career?

That is the debate the Daytime Emmys now have to confront. 

To understand the issue, it is important to look at why the category was created in the first place.

The change came after NATAS retired the Outstanding Younger Performer category following the 51st Daytime Emmy Awards. Rather than continuing to define the category primarily by age, the new Emerging Talent award shifted the focus to a performer's experience in daytime drama.

The change reflects a broader question about what the Daytime Emmys should recognize. The Younger Performer category clearly identified its intended group: younger actors working in daytime dramas. The new category is more flexible, allowing performers of different ages to qualify as long as they meet the requirements surrounding their first contract with a daytime drama. 

There is an obvious benefit to that approach. A performer does not necessarily stop being an emerging talent simply because they are over a certain age. Someone could begin a professional career at 35, 40, or 50 and genuinely be at the beginning of their journey. 

But the new rules also created a gray area. 

An actor can be highly experienced elsewhere in the entertainment industry and still qualify because they are new to daytime, which brings back the conversation to what the category is actually supposed to celebrate.

Is it recognizing someone new to daytime or someone who is emerging as an actor?

Those two definitions may overlap, but they are not always the same. 

One of the clearest examples of that distinction is Olivia d’Abo. 

When D’Abo competed in the Emerging Talent category for her work on The Bay, she was certainly new to daytime drama. However, she was hardly new to acting. 

D’Abo had already spent decades building a career in television and film. She became widely recognized for playing Karen Arnold on The Wonder Years and had accumulated numerous credits throughout her career before entering the world of daytime. But this does not mean d’Abo was undeserving of recognition. 

Quite the opposite. 

An established performer bringing their experience to a soap opera can be valuable to the genre. But the question is whether that performer should compete for an award specifically called Outstanding Emerging Talent. 

The difficulty becomes clearer when you compare the type of experience two potential nominees could bring to the category. 

One performer could be in their late teens or early twenties, with only a few professional credits and limited experience in the entertainment industry. Their first soap role may represent one of their biggest opportunities yet and could be the beginning of a long acting career.

Another nominee could be an established actor who has spent years working in television and film before signing their first daytime contract. While they may be learning the unique demands of a soap opera for the first time, they are not learning how to be an actor.

Both performers could meet the same eligibility requirements and give excellent performances. But they are arriving in the same category from different places in their careers.

That is where the definition of “emerging talent” becomes complicated.

Being new to daytime is not necessarily the same as being new to the industry. 

That leaves one possible solution, bringing an age component back into the category.

An 18-to-30 age range could give younger performers the opportunity that was once provided by the Younger Performer category, while still allowing the Emerging Talent award to remain separate from the old category. 

It would not be a perfect system. Age does not automatically determine experience, and someone over 30 can certainly be new to acting. But the goal would be to give younger performers, particularly those at the beginning of their careers, a category where they are not competing against established actors who simply happen to be new to daytime. 

Despite the concerns surrounding the category, the Emerging Talent award is a valuable addition to the Daytime Emmys. Young performers deserve an opportunity to be recognized, and daytime television has long served as a launching pad for actors beginning their careers.

The category does not need to be eliminated. Instead, it may simply need to be refined. 

The Emerging Talent award has only just begun, which means there is still an opportunity to shape what it becomes. If the goal is to recognize the next generation of daytime performers, then the category should make room for those actors without putting them in competition with performers who already have decades of experience. 

There is another option worth considering: established actors who are new to daytime already have opportunities to come in the Supporting and Leading Performance categories. If an experienced performer delivers an outstanding performance, they can still receive recognition there without taking a spot in a category specifically designed to highlight emerging talent. That distinction would allow the Daytime Emmys to recognize established performers for the work they are doing in daytime while preserving the Emerging Talent category as a space for actors who are truly at the beginning of their professional journeys. 

After all, being new to daytime is not necessarily the same as being new talent. The Daytime Emmys now have to decide whether those two ideas should continue to share the same category.