Canadian actress Mishael Morgan returns to The Young and the Restless as Amanda Sinclair as the soap prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary! Mishael opens up about her history Emmy win and her most memorable moments on the show.
What can you tease about your return? The last time we saw Amanda was when she caught Devon (Bryton James) with Abby (Melissa Ordway).
Let’s just say that Devon made a very big mistake crossing Amanda Sinclair because she is out for blood!
Time hasn’t healed…
It’s her first time seeing Devon and then eventually Abby since the whole event. I think that in her mind, she wanted to come back cool and collected, but I don’t think that it’s that easy for her to apply those feelings because of how betrayed she felt.
I think that it’s a really deep betrayal. She didn’t have family or connection with people like she did when she first came on the show and had that connection with Devon. She had already forgiven him once before for cheating with Elena (Brytni Sarpy).
So, I don’t think this is something that is going to heal overnight. It’s a much deeper wound.
Congratulations on your history Emmy win last year — the first Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. What an incredible moment.
Thank you. It really was [an incredible moment]. It was definitely one to remember and I’ll never forget the feeling.
Did the win make your decision to step back from the show a bit harder?
Yeah, I think so. But I also looked at is as a really nice thing to take home and close this chapter of being in the soap world. I’m still there, but I’m not there every day. So, it was a nice send off.
How are you and your family doing after resettling in Toronto?
It’s been great, getting back to Toronto. My kids and my family have adjusted so well. My husband is back home with all his friends and family. So, it’s been great!
And the door was left open at Y&R this time around for you to come back as Amanda, which was a great relief to the fans. I guess Amanda would be able to pop in whenever someone in Genoa City needs legal representation. Is there anyone that you’d like to work with that you didn’t have a chance to share many scenes with as both Hilary and Amanda?
I was joking with Michael Graziadei (who plays Daniel) that it’s like we keep missing each other! I think he left in 2013, right? That’s around the time that I first came on the canvas as Hilary and he soon left. And then basically he came back basically not even a week after or a couple of weeks after I left. I had met him before but when I went back recently we actually got to chat and we both thought that it was really funny [that we’ve never been at the show at the same time]. I joked that they were passing a paycheque around between us! “I took yours and then you took mine.” It would be nice to work with him. I’ve heard great things!
I’d also love to work with Christian LeBlanc (Michael) a little more! I’d love to go to court with him and battle against him. That would be fun!
As Hilary, I got to work with almost everybody because of her talk show. When I came back as Amanda I got to work with Jason Thomson (Billy).
Will we get any fight scenes between Amanda and Abby?
I think you’ll see some tension between them. I don’t know if there will be a cat fight, but definitely some tension! I think that the way they played it with Abby, she was very respectful and apologetic for the whole thing. You know, she’s following her heart, but she does feel like she needs to conduct herself a certain way — and that’s in her favour.
So for Amanda, as upset as she is, I don’t think that she’s going to take it out on Abby. At least not now.
As a fan of the show, what are some of your favourite moments from Y&R’s history?
I remember all the tension and fighting that went on between Jill and Katherine — Jess Walton and Jeanne Cooper. Those are some of my favourite senes that I remember from when I was younger. They were so funny.
I always remember the weddings! They were all so memorable. Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) and Victor (Eric Braeden) got married over and over again. It was like this love story that would never end.
Oh and Phyllis’ (Michelle Stafford) cat fights! There were some great moments between Phyllis and Drucilla (Victoria Rowell).
What’s it been like first watching Michelle Stafford when you were growing up and then getting the chance to act opposite her? She posted something so sweet when you wrapped up filming last year.
It’s been awesome. She is such an amazing person. I really, really love her and love working with her. She has such a freedom with her acting and she really allows you to kind of find that freedom, too. So, it was so interesting working with her.
It’s been awesome. Michelle is such an amazing person. I really, really love her and love working with her. She’s so interesting to work with. She’s a true artist and she’s always kind of in the moment and ready to play and is unpredictable.
As an actor, there’s not much more that you can ask for. She makes the scenes feel alive and feel real. She’s so committed. I’ve learned so much from her as a person and as an actress.
You had the opportunity to meet Victoria Rowell when you appeared on the tribute episode for Kristoff St. John. What can you share about finally meeting her after watching Drucilla when you were growing up?
Oh, meeting her was awesome. It was very difficult circumstances, so we didn’t really get to talk that much. But she was amazing.
What have been some of your most memorable experiences on the show?
For me, I always go back to how some of the best moments from soaps can be the tears, but then you also get some laughter — like with the cat fights.
I really loved the cat fights between Hilary and Mariah (Camryn Grimes) when they were at GC Buzz. That was my first time getting into a physical fight on screen with somebody. It was really fun!
I also enjoyed all the back and forth that Hilary had with Lily (Christel Khalil) over the years. Christel’s awesome. Once she kept pouring water on me and I was like “Why do you keep throwing water?” She also threw me in the pool once! She’s even dumped a bucket of water on my head.
This one time she threw a glass of water at me and then some freak thing happened where it just went all over Peter Bergman (Jack), who was standing beside me. And the water didn’t even touch me at all! They had to go and clean his entire wardrobe and we had to re-do the whole thing! But you know, as the constant professional that Peter Bergman is, he stayed in the scene and kept saying his line!
Hilary’s death is still is still close to my heart because I just felt like I was wrapping up a character that I had put so much time and energy into. I felt like I really understood her. It was well written.
And then as Amanda, I really liked working with Ptosha Storey. She is incredible and played my mom (Naya). Getting that opportunity to kind of live out that side of that character was really interesting for me because my dad kind of had a similar experience where he didn’t know his mom growing up. He didn’t meet his mom until he was 21. So, I really connected to that metrical and so, those scenes, we’re really close to my heart.
That’s incredible. I’m sure it was a hard time to do that because of the pandemic. I feel like it all just took place at the hotel. But you were so amazing in those scenes.
Thank you. Yeah, they were technically frustrating because you know, in the moments like that, you kind of want to be close enough to the person, or you feel like hugging them or something — you just want to do that but can’t!
The Young and the Restless airs weekdays on Global and CBS. Canadians can catch up with episodes on demand, the Global TV app, STACKTV, and at GlobalTV.com.
