While many other Daytime Emmy nominees might celebrate being honored with a special dinner or something of the like, “The Young and the Restless’” Hunter King (Summer Newman) celebrated in a much different way: By going to math class!
After hearing the announcement that she was officially in the race for this year’s Outstanding Younger Actress Emmy, she explained to reporters that she wouldn’t have much time to let it sink it, considering she had midterms to study for and class to attend. But, she gushed: “At least I know in the back of my head that I got nominated, so I’ll have a little smile on my face!”
Though, as many “Y&R” fans might know, she deserves to have a big smile on her face, considering the material she had last year was pretty solid and is rumored to have a strong chance of landing her the Emmy. “I submitted the scenes when I was talking with my dad, [Jack Abbott, Peter Bergman], and him telling me that I’m really not his daughter,” she explains in character of the clips she turned in. “I thought those were a good choice of scenes, because they showed a lot of vulnerability and a lot of emotion.”
As for how she narrowed it down, she says friends and co-workers were key. “I watched [the scenes] over and over again, and it took me a really long time to figure it out,” she admits. “I asked [our show publicist], Jimmy [Freeman], for his opinion, I asked Max [Ehrich, Fenmore Baldwin], Tracey [E. Bregman, Lauren Fenmore], and Christian [LeBlanc, Michael Baldwin]; all of them kind of weighed in on it, and they all helped me decide which one was going to be the best way to go.”
Obviously, their input paid off, and she snagged the nomination. “It feels awesome,” she says. “I was very surprised and very excited to receive the call from Jimmy that I got nominated. I was really not expecting it all this year.”
Also unexpected for the actress was the fact that Joshua Morrow (Nicholas Newman) didn’t get nominated. “I’m bummed, because he was very prominent in those scenes; it was all him and I,” she explains. “But he’s so laid back and cool. It’s not a big deal to him… and I know that he’s excited [for me]. I owe a lot of the work in that scene to him, for how it turned out, just being able to feed off of him.”
Though Morrow didn’t receive an Emmy nod this year, several of King’s castmates did — and she’s thrilled for each and every one of them. “I was so excited about [Max Ehrich and Daniel Polo (Jamie Vernon)], because I love both of them,” she enthuses. “I haven’t seen Daniel in awhile, because it’s been awhile since he’s been on the show, but he was such a sweet kid, so having both of them get nominated from the show is just awesome.”
As is the news that Bergman was nominated. “My dad!” she exclaims. “I’m super stoked that he’s nominated. I wish I could tweet him, but he doesn’t have a Twitter!”
Which, the actress notes, is pretty funny, considering her grandmother of all people found out she’d been nominated via the popular social networking site. “My grandma, she woke up and instantly went on Twitter, and she was… like, ‘Did you get nominated again?’ and I said, ‘Yes,’ and she started freaking out; my grandma was so cute,” she recalls. “But yes, my grandmother has a Twitter, a Facebook, an Instagram, and she texts me, and yet Peter can’t even get a Twitter!”