After earning a trio of Daytime Emmy nominations as Outstanding Younger Actress for playing Jana Hawkes on Young and Restless, Emily O’Brien found herself in the running for a statuette again, this time as Outstanding Supporting Actress in 2024 as Gwen Rizczech on Days of Our Lives. Now, in 2025, she’s up for gold in that category again — but for her other Salem identity, Theresa. “I wasn’t expecting to have a nomination as Theresa,” O’Brien tells Soap Opera Digest. “It was a surprise!”

Total Package

O’Brien, who has since resumed playing Gwen on DAYS, assumed the role of Theresa from Jen Lilley back in 2023. “That was such a whirlwind year for me and it took me a while to sort of find my footing as that character,” the actress muses of her time as a recast. “But I ended up truly enjoying that and the challenges that presented themselves to me. I look back now and realize how much I actually did enjoy it and love it. So, as shocked as I was in the beginning to hear that I had a nomination as Theresa, now I’m really sort of enjoying and celebrating it, you know? I’m remembering that time more fondly than I felt [at the time] because I was really nervous the whole time. It feels good to sit into it and celebrate.”

This nomination means that she has now been recognized with an Emmy nod for all three roles she’s played on the two daytime shows she’s appeared on. “I didn’t think of it that way, but wow, that’s nice to think about!” she says when Digest points out this statistic. “It makes me just sort of put them all in a row together and I’m imagining these three very distinct characters who are so different from each other. So, to be recognized for that feels wonderful.”

As she began to put together the reel she submitted to Emmy voters for their consideration, O’Brien’s thoughts went right to her last day of playing Theresa. “On the last day, it was an episode where I was saying good-bye to Brady. Everything had come out [about Theresa doctoring Victor’s letter to make it appear as though Alex, not Xander, was his son and rightful heir]. It was actually my last day on set, as well, so my heart was just right on the edge of my sleeve. I was feeling very vulnerable, and I remember saying to myself, ‘This is it, just let it all go. And it was so real and genuine for me. It came from a place of authenticity and I just thought, ‘If you’re going to try for a nomination this year, just put the realest thing out there that you can.’ Playing Theresa, I was wearing a wig every day and I was so far away from who I am in that role. But these scenes came out and it was me. When I watched them, I was like, ‘That’s me crying, that’s me feeling those things, just disguised as Theresa. It was a really heavy day for me and I guess it resonated with people.”

Win, Lose or Draw

O’Brien’s Theresa wig was so central to her experience playing the character that, she teases, “I even thought about bringing the wig with me as a date! I’d have to mention the wig in there somewhere [if she was called to make an acceptance speech], but I’m not thinking that far ahead. I really don’t think it’s my year. I’m just happy to be on this ride again and alongside Linsey [Godfrey, Sarah, who was also nominated for Supporting Actress] for a second time. That part is just the most fun and it’s enough for me just to have that fun right now!”

While she’s not expecting her name to be called, O’Brien freely admits that she’ll still feel some butterflies in her stomach this Friday night at the ceremony. “Of course I will!” she says. “There would have to be something wrong with me if I wasn’t nervous. I remember last year, I just tried to sort of breathe and say to myself, ‘Just relax, it’s not you. Just relax, just enjoy.’ This is just one of those moments in your life that you try to sit back and stop thinking so hard about it and just enjoy the moment. ‘Have a little slip of wine and just enjoy it,’ that’s what you have to tell yourself. But it’s a few seconds or a minute, it’s intense, and then you tell yourself, ‘In five minutes it’s going to be over.’ And then you move on and then it’s a forever memory, so you might as well try to sit in the moment, be present and enjoy the hell out of it.

“But,” she continues, “your heart is racing out through your throat and you sort of black out a little. I can’t even imagine how Courtney [Hope, Sally, Young and Restless, last year’s Supporting Actress winner] felt when they called her name. I think I would faint if that happened to me! “