Daytime Emmys 2025: Lead Actor Nominations Stir Drama as Awards Season Heats Up

Lights, camera, outrage! The Daytime Emmy Awards 2025 are already causing a stir and we have not even hit the red carpet yet. With the lead actor categories officially unveiled, the drama has spilled from the screen straight into fan feeds. If you live for power performances, snubs, and the eternal soap opera of awards season politics, grab your tea. You are going to need it.

In a surprise announcement timed for maximum buzz, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) dropped the first batch of nominees for the 52nd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards, revealing the hotly anticipated contenders for Outstanding Lead Actor and Actress in a Daytime Drama Series. Also teased were standout picks in the lifestyle and instructional programming categories. The ceremony is set for October 17 in Pasadena, giving us just enough time to spiral into our annual speculation spiral. Let’s break down the drama behind the drama.

The Return of the Kings: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Daytime Drama Series

This year’s crop of Leading Men did not come to play. Some are daytime dynasties. Others are surprise favorites. But all of them are out to claim gold.

Nominees for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Daytime Drama Series:

• Peter Bergman as Jack Abbott, The Young and the Restless (CBS)

• Eric Martsolf as Brady Black, Days of Our Lives (Peacock)

• Greg Rikaart as Leo Stark, Days of Our Lives (Peacock)

• Paul Telfer as Xander Kiriakis, Days of Our Lives (Peacock)

• Dominic Zamprogna as Dante Falconeri, General Hospital (ABC)

So basically, if you are not watching Days of Our Lives, what are you even doing with your life? With three out of five nominations, the long-running Peacock series is flexing hard. That said, The Young and the Restless brings heavy artillery in Peter Bergman, a daytime legend who could teach a masterclass in brooding monologues.

And yes, General Hospital snuck in with Dominic Zamprogna (in the lead category FINALLY), whose character Dante continues to be a complicated heartthrob with daddy issues. Emmy voters eat that up.

Leading Ladies Light Up the Screen: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Daytime Drama Series

Why should the men have all the fun? This year’s Lead Actress lineup is stacked with fierce femmes and familiar faces who make betrayal look like an art form.

Nominees for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Daytime Drama Series:

• Sharon Case as Sharon Newman, The Young and the Restless (CBS)

• Eileen Davidson as Ashley Abbott, The Young and the Restless (CBS)

• Melissa Claire Egan as Chelsea Lawson, The Young and the Restless (CBS)

• Nancy Lee Grahn as Alexis Davis, General Hospital (ABC)

• Michelle Stafford as Phyllis Summers, The Young and the Restless (CBS)

• Laura Wright as Carly Spencer, General Hospital (ABC)

With The Young and the Restless basically turning this into their own award show, the CBS soap has four nominations in one category. We get it. The Newman and Abbott families are out here earning that Emmy love.

But let’s not count out General Hospital. Nancy Lee Grahn and Laura Wright.

Beyond the Soap Operas: Lifestyle and Instructional Programming Daytime Emmy 2025 Nominees

The Daytime Emmys are not all love triangles and slaps across country club lunch tables. NATAS also handed out nods in lifestyle and how-to categories, spotlighting shows that teach us how to live our best lives or at least pretend we are trying.

Outstanding Lifestyle Program Nominees:

• George to the Rescue (NBC)

• Hack Your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut (Netflix)

• Harlem Globetrotters: Play It Forward (NBC)

• Homegrown (Magnolia Network)

• You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment (Netflix)

Outstanding Instructional or How-To Program Nominees:

• Dime Como Hacerlo (Roku)

• The Fixers (BYUtv)

• Fixer Upper: The Lakehouse (Magnolia Network)

• Going Home with Tyler Cameron (Prime Video)

• Married to Real Estate (HGTV)

• Martha Gardens (Roku)

Yes, Fixer Upper is still a thing. And somehow, so is Martha Stewart, now with a gardening show that sounds charming enough to make you forget she once did time. Talk about range.

No Love for Beyond the Gates — Yet

If you are wondering where CBS’s buzzy new soap Beyond the Gates is, take a breath. The show debuted in February 2025 and is therefore ineligible this year. It will be part of next year’s pool. Which is great because it means we can expect even more drama in 2026.

Also worth noting, NATAS officially eliminated the “Outstanding Younger Performer” category and is replacing it with the new “Outstanding Emerging Talent in a Daytime Drama Series.” Translation: they are finally recognizing the breakout newbies without lumping them into an awkward age-based box. Progress, people.

With the full list of 2025 Daytime Emmy nominations dropping on Thursday at 9 a.m. Pacific, this is just the appetizer. If today’s announcements are any clue, it is going to be a dramatic, competitive, and slightly chaotic awards season. Exactly the way daytime fans like it.

Congrats to all the well deserved nominees!

Your Move: Bookmark this article. Set your reminders for the full nomination list. And prepare your hot takes because the only thing more dramatic than daytime TV is the internet arguing about daytime TV.

Stay tuned. And may the best soap win.