Canadian actress Mishael Morgan returned to The Young and the Restless as Amanda Sinclair earlier this month, and The TV Watercooler had the opportunity to dive into the latest Genoa City drama with the Daytime Emmy winner.
Mishael chats about Amanda’s fashionable return and her surprising connection to the mysterious Aristotle Dumas, and to reuniting with familiar faces, as well as Y&R’s newest cast member Billy Flynn (soon-to-be-ex-Chad, Days of our Lives).
Plus, we also chat about Mishael’s historic Emmy win, the possibility of a Beyond the Gates crossover, and her recent Hallmark and W Network miniseries Hearts Around the Table.
Amanda made quite a fashionable entrance last week! How many takes did you need to do that in?
I think we did that in one take! But when we were doing the one right outside [of Society], I think something kept happening, so we might have done that like two times just to get the timing right!
Amanda finds herself in the thick of the Aristotle Dumas storyline. How did you feel having your first scenes back with Bryton James (Devon), Christel Khalil (Lily), and Sean Dominic (Nate)?
It was just so fun working with them! I’m so used to working with them. Looking back, I didn’t feel nervous for any of my other scenes, but because I know them so well, I was like “Oh my gosh, they’re going to be able to tell that I’m a little bit nervous!’ I felt a little bit nervous walking back on stage for the first time in probably about 10 years! Which is kind of nice, but I was watching [production] from my room and I remember going, ‘I forgot how quick we move!”
I really did forget that it’s really just one take. When I got on stage, I just kind of started to feel my heart race a little bit, and I’m like, “What’s going on here? This is weird!” But we got into it, and by the third scene, I was fine!
Amanda also reunited with Phyllis. What was it like working with Michelle Stafford right away? The show did make it a point to let the audience know that Amanda and Phyllis have stayed in touch. How important was that for you – in terms of Amanda having a whole life off-screen but she’s still keeping in touch with people in Genoa City?
I always appreciate that. Y&R told me before I left that “We’ll find opportunities to bring you back! We love you, Mishael. We want you to stay, but we know if we ever have an opportunity to bring you back, we’ll take advantage of it.”
But knowing the show and understanding the show, I feel like I’m not a legacy character. I’m not married to anybody on this show. It’ll be really easy for everybody in Genoa City to forget about me and for the writers to kind of forget about me [as well]. So, I always feel blessed and so honoured that they don’t. If they have an opportunity or a fun storyline to pull me back in with, they always try to capitalize on it, which is awesome!
No, as a longtime fan, I don’t think that’s true. I think that, as an actress, you have really cemented your place on that canvas, and you’ve also broken Daytime Emmy history.
I did! I have to remind myself of that every now and then…
They created a whole new character just so you could come back, right? You deserve those flowers.
Thank you! It’s always a blessing to come back, and nice to know that you have a place.
I’ve talked to other people about it – being an actor, our lives are so unpredictable that it’s nice that you can have an incredible cast of people, crew, and production that love having you so that if you ever need to go back home or need a safety net, they are always there and have got your back! So, that’s nice!
The meeting that Amanda had set up last week took place at Society, do you think Amanda was hoping to run into Abby (Melissa Ordway) there?
I mean, I think Amanda is always prepared for Abby! [Raises fists] But, I don’t know! [Laughs] It’s very funny of her but she didn’t even end up meeting Abby.
Not yet! She did keep looking at Devon’s wedding ring, which even he noticed.
The writers didn’t really tell me much. They said, “There’s this mysterious man and you represent him.” I was like, “Okay!” And they’re like, “But it’s going to be a lot of fun, and a lot of interesting things coming, and we’d love to possibly bring you back!”
I was like, “Oh, okay…” And then I got the script, and I was like, “Oh, Aristotle Dumas! This is a new name!”
There wasn’t a lot of information, just a lot of mystery!
We did see a preview of Amanda’s run in with Abby at Crimson Lights, what can you tease about that?
Well, we’ve never been best friends, so we know it’s going to be rocky! [Laughs]
It’s always entertaining and so much fun to get to play with Melissa. We have so much fun being friendly on set but the best is when you get to have a little bit of tension and get some of your frustrations from life out through your art!
Amanda’s work in town has her interacting with the Winters corporate team, but also Phyllis and Billy, and Sally. Can you share with us who else you’ll be having scenes with during this visit?
I do know that there may be an opportunity where she sees a lot of people! So many that I can’t really name… There might be some fun event happening!
Will Amanda still be in town when Aristotle Dumas is revealed?
Well, Amanda knows a lot and does represent him, so she’s going to have opportunities to come in and out!
Last time we spoke around Y&R’s 50th, you mentioned that you’d love to work with Michael Graziadei (Daniel) because you had first joined just as he was about to leave, and then he came back just as you left. Have you had a chance to finally work together yet?
No, not yet! I haven’t worked with Graziadei yet. We’ll see!
Have you worked with Billy Flynn yet?!
Have I worked with Billy Flynn yet? Yes, I have!
I’ll leave it at that!
[Laughs]
How did you manage to keep up with the Genoa City happenings while you’ve been off set? I know you grew up watching the show, have you had the chance to check back in?
Yes, it’s funny because I’m in Toronto, so we have the 4 p.m. timeslot [on Global], so I always end up catching a little bit of it when my kids come home and we’re flipping through the TV.
I put it on and I feel like my mom, telling them “Leave it on! Just for a second!” I tell them, “This was mommy’s show!”
So yeah, I’ll check in every now and then and see how my friends are doing and I get a little glimpse of what’s going on!
Going back to your historic Emmy win. I think daytime has made quite a lot of strides in the past few years. CBS recently launched Beyond the Gates. Have you been able to check that out yet?
I’m hearing a lot of good things! I’m so excited to check it out.
I have seen a lot of clips on Karla Mosley’s socials, and she’s doing phenomenal [as Dani].
Would you be open to crossing over as Amanda?
Yeah, I think that’d be a lot of fun! I’d love if Karla and I could play off each other! She stepped in as Amanda [temporarily in 2021]. We’ve never acted with each other. We did meet over the years, at like the Emmys, but have never actually had to the chance to sit down and chat with each other.
We feel like we’re pen pals since she played Amanda for a bit. We’ve texted back and forth since the time she wrote me a letter and left it in my dressing room. I then texted her back and thanked her. We’ve DM’d but never actually sat down in the same room and talked!
CBS needs to make that happen! Did you ever consider doing another soap? Were you ever approached by another soap?
Yeah, I was. I feel like Y&R has always been home. They’re the number one soap for a reason, and I love all the people here. I just feel like if I’m going to go back to doing a soap, I’m going to come home!
So, it’s a hard one for me because being in Canada was about exploring other opportunities and putting on other hats in our industry, like producing.
For me, if I were going to go back to a soap [full time], I would probably just go “home.”
You recently appeared in Hallmark and W Network’s miniseries Hearts Around the Table, which you got to film here in Canada. How was that experience?
Oh, that was so much fun!
I loved the idea that they were foster siblings. Even in my own storytelling, I’m all about how we can find ways to remind us that we’re more alike than we are different. It’s uniting people from all different backgrounds, races, and colours…
So, the idea of having a foster family where they were all came from different backgrounds and upbringings, and that they were each other’s chosen family really spoke to me as a storyteller because these are the types of stories that I want to tell.
My character was also a divorcée, which is very unheard of for a Hallmark movie! It wasn’t the typical ‘small town, meet a hot guy!’ There were some layers, which I really appreciated.
Do you think they’ll do a second miniseries where you’d revisit that character?
I’m hearing a lot about it! I think it came across really, really well, so you never know! But I haven’t heard anything [official] yet.
Can’t wait to see what you do next! Looking forward to the Aristotle Dumas reveal on Y&R and Amanda’s role in it.
I know it’s going to be fun! And beautiful! They built a whole new set for it, so it’s going to be fun and beautiful!
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.
