Michelle Stafford is officially celebrating 30 years of playing the iconic role of Phyllis Summers on The Young and the Restless. The actress made her debut on the show in October 1994 and earned several accolades for her performance including three Daytime Emmy Awards in 2024 alone. Originally, Phyllis was supposed to stick around for three weeks, but Stafford’s incredible performance earned her a permanent spot in the cast.
To celebrate Stafford’s three decades on The Young and the Restless, the show will air a special episode dedicated to her character on October 18, 2024. While speaking with TODAY, Stafford shared that fans can expect the special episode to showcase Phyllis’s evolution over the years. The star emotionally expressed how she never thought she would one day celebrate her 30th anniversary with the show when she first joined the cast.
Stafford also took to Instagram to share photos of her on-set anniversary party, where her co-stars, including Eric Braeden and Allison Lanier, honored her with heartfelt speeches. The entire set was decorated with red balloons, in honor of Phyllis’s nickname on the show, ‘Red.’ Along with the cast and crew of the show, Stafford’s children were also part of their mother’s special day.
Michelle Stafford Has Enjoyed Experimenting With Phyllis’s Character Over the Years
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In the same interview with TODAY, Stafford reflected on Phyllis’s many storylines and picked out a few of her favorites. The actress noted that she really enjoyed Nick (Joshua Morrow) and Phyllis’s affair which they got involved in right after the death of Cassie Newman, played by Camryn Grimes. “I felt like it was a very real story and told so well,” added the soap actress while speaking of how unexpected the affair was to the fans.
Stafford also talked about temporarily taking on the role of Sheila Carter, who is otherwise portrayed by Kimberlin Brown. The storyline took place back in the 2000s when Sheila got plastic surgery to look like Phyllis. Stafford reminisced about having the opportunity to really branch out of her comfort zone and have fun with her character these past 30 years. As far as Phyllis’s future goes, Stafford clarified that she doesn’t see her character settling down anytime soon.
In another interview with The Soap Opera Digest, Stafford opened up about balancing her time between being a mother and a full-time soap actress. “I think that as actors, we genuinely live the character. That’s what we do and there’s nothing wrong with that,” claimed Stafford. However, she added that because she takes on somebody else’s life and feels their pain, she has learned now not to bring any of it back home. She credits her children for her work-life balance, saying “My kids pull me out of it every day.”
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air on weekdays on CBS and are available to stream on Paramount Plus the next day.
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The Young and the Restless |
|---|---|
| Cast | Eric Braeden, Melody Thomas Scott, Peter Bergman, Sharon Case, Joshua Morrow, Bryton James |
| First Aired | March 26, 1973 |
| Stream On | CBS, Paramount+ |
| Created by | William J. Bell, Lee Phillip Bell |
| Produced by | Anthony Morina, John Fisher |
| Plot Summary | Follows the lives, loves, and complex relationships of families in Genoa City, with high drama, business rivalries, and romantic entanglements. |
| Musical Elements | The iconic theme song, “Nadia’s Theme,” by Barry De Vorzon and Perry Botkin Jr. |
| Current Status | Airing weekdays on CBS, available for streaming on Paramount+ |
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