This is the first Daytime Emmys win for the actress in 20 years

Michelle Stafford won the 2024 Daytime Emmy Award on June 7 for outstanding lead performance in a daytime drama series: actress.

Stafford, who portrays Phyllis Summers on The Young and the Restless, was nominated for the award alongside General Hospital‘s Finola Hughes and Cynthia Watros, The Bold and the Beautiful‘s Katherine Kelly Lang and Annika Noelle and Days of Our Lives‘ Tamra Braun.

During her acceptance speech, Stafford, 58, praised Hughes for being “the best actress in the room” and the “greatest friend.” She also said the award should be shared with The Young and the Restless’ cast and crew. “Every single one of you should have one of these,” she said.

In addition to thanking Sony and CBS, she made sure to call out her children Jameson and Natalia and expressed gratitude for her acting career.

“I am honored to entertain people. I’m honored to be here amongst you all tonight, truly.” she added.

Stafford made her debut on The Young and the Restless in 1994. Though her role as Phyllis Summers was meant to be short term, her portrayal impressed producers and she was given a contract to periodically reprise her role. In 2019, she departed her role as Nina Reeves on General Hospital and returned to Y&R as Phyllis.

Over the years, Stafford has received 13 Daytime Emmy nominations and previously won in 1997 and 2004. In an interview with Soap Opera Digest ahead of the ceremony, the actress revealed she’s the type of person to wing her acceptance speech.

“Well, I think you should always go in expecting to lose and expecting to win,” she confessed. “Either one of those things can happen. It’s 50-50. I have a one-in-six chance. So you have to think of something. You have to prepare something or else that’s just silly.”