1997 Outstanding Lead Actress
1991 Outstanding Supporting Actress

Watch Jess's scenes come to life!

I don’t know about the new way, but in the old way of judging, I think you picked your strongest shows; you picked your rawest shows. Whether it’s joy or sorrow or anger, you picked the one that’s the realest. Because the second Emmy I won -- which was for Best Actress -- the Best Actress one was won when I was in the middle of no story what-so-ever -- two years before and two years after. So if I won it, it was for my body of work, plus the scenes I submitted. There were a couple of raw scenes in there. And both times I won the Emmys, I submitted shows that when I first read them, I thought, “I can’t do this… I can’t do this.” One of them, I just randomly started screaming at this innocent hotel clerk that he had ruined my life because he had forgotten to pass on a letter. I just went over the top at him in front of a lobby full of people. The thought of it was so outrageous and so not me that I thought, “I can’t do this.” Even up till just before we shot it, I said, “I’ve just got to do it a hundred percent flat out; I just can’t even think about it.” And the second was a scene where I had to go to my lawyer’s office and tell him that I just might as well kill myself -- so it was a very self-pitying, suicidal scene. And I hate [that kind of thing]. That whole thing just makes me cringe, because I guess what I really value -- I value survival a lot in people. I know how good life can be, and I know that it’s a matter of attitude. I know it’s a matter of where you direct your thoughts. And I know it’s harder for some people than others to think like that. But I know it can be turned around, and I know all those people are saying, “The pain is too great for me to bear.” And so what you do is you work on the pain. You solve the pain -- the solution is not killing yourself. But anyway, so those are my private feelings on that whole subject so therefore I’m coming from a place where it was very abhorrent to me. And so I had to do it. They weren’t going to cut the scene, so I had to do it.

What was your reaction to winning?

My very first feeling that was really kind of common in both of them was, I can’t believe for me to have won, for my name to have been called meant that a lot of people had given thumbs-up to me. That was the warmest feeling, and that was exactly identical on both of them. The only slight difference was one was Supporting, and one was Lead. So the Lead was almost more unbelievable to me because it was the big one. I mean, I appreciate both of them very much, and they really have changed my attitude about anxiety. I mean, you know with actors, most actors trust in themselves. They have their moments of brilliance, and then they have moments when they just don’t feel they can get it. It tends to be a passionate business. Sometimes you go to the most negative and say, “Well I just can’t do this. I’m not as talented as I thought I was, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…” But winning both of those -- and it shouldn’t mean anything, but it did. It meant kind of I’ve got a stamp of approval on me from my peers. It is the most valuable award you could possibly win to me. I mean, I love the fans and I love the People’s Choice, but when you’re talking about fine tuning your own craft, the people I think that you want the kudos from as far as the acting goes -- are the Emmys. And it just changed my whole relaxation level. I’ve had like four nominations and two wins, and before that it was like, “Am I going to be nominated,” or whatever -- and I never think of that anymore. Frankly, it’s really nice if you do get nominated but it’s almost like you got the thing yourself and nobody can ever take that away from you. And the trick is not to rest on your laurels, of course, and to try to keep up the quality of your work. But just having that little proof that at one moment in time, a lot of people thought that you did a fabulous job is so great. And I remember the biggest feeling with me, too, was resentment that I had to go up and make a speech because to me -- that was hell on earth. I mean, half of me didn’t even want to win, because I’d have to go up and make a speech and I’m just not comfortable up there. I mean, Julia Roberts does all this stuff off the cuff, I hear. And the people who do it off the cuff, oh my hat is so off to them. I had to go over and over and over the people I wanted to thank, so I wouldn’t forget them.

Was there anyone you meant to thank but forgot?

You know what I did on the second one, before the drawing, but after the nomination? I took a huge ad out in [the Hollywood trade paper] Variety. I did a category of friends and people who had helped me my whole life; I did a category of people here [at Y&R], and I did a category of my family. A long list superimposed over a picture of myself with a note thanking -- whether or not I won -- these are the people I want to thank. So in case I forgot anybody, everybody was listed there and well thought out. And it took stress off me. Mind you, I don’t think I won that year! That was the year I was nominated and didn’t win. But still I got in everybody I wanted to thank. I don’t remember how long [executive producer] David Shaughnessy has been here, but one year I forgot to thank David. I think it must have been when he was new. But I forgot to thank him, and I regret that because he is so responsible for so much good stuff. His notes and his guidance are really important to me. So yeah, he’s the one person I think I forgot to thank. But the feeling of having to go up, the feeling of winning that’s so sublime, the feeling of having to go up and think is horrible. Then the feeling of going back and greeting the press -- because the year I won, I beat Susan Lucci [Erica, All My Children], which was all anyone ever asked about. I walked into the room and said, “I’ll answer any question you have but, don’t ask me about Susan Lucci. I said she’s a gracious lady, and she’s a fine actress but I don’t want to discuss Susan Lucci here. We can discuss this.”

Where do you keep your Emmy?

On a bookcase in my family room.

How has winning an Emmy affected your career?

Nothing… I mean, I think shows are very careful not to make a big deal about it because they don’t really want to give you any ammunition that you’re anything special. You know what I mean. I mean my show is wonderful, and they are always telling me they value me and they consider me an addition to the show, but never has the Emmy; it’s not a big deal. I mean it looks good in print, “Emmy Award Winning…” but it hasn’t saved my career because I’ve been here. So, I’ve been at CBS for almost 20 years, with Capitol and now The Young and the Restless.

What was the reaction of your co-workers when you returned to work after the win?

Oh they were very happy for me. I remember when I won the first one, I would play over and over the tape of me winning. Not with me talking -- that bothered me -- but everybody jumping up. I would play it in slow motion; Brenda Epperson [ex-Ashley] and [former executive producer] Ed Scott, and Mel [Melody Thomas Scott, Nikki], and Laura Lee [Bell, Christine] and just the look on their faces and how happy they were for me. Over and over I just relived that joy. It was absolutely fabulous. And then on the second one, when I replayed, it was my husband’s face. The look on his face, and my daughter was sitting behind me because she was there that night and… it was phenomenal. It was phenomenal; it was definitely two of the highlights of my life -- that moment. And then having to think was awful because I just wanted to feel…I just wanted to feel that feeling. And when I had to think I had to go away from the feeling kind of. At least I couldn’t combine them. My Supporting was actually the first award I think given out, either the first or the second of the night, when we went into night time. Before that it was in the day. So I was the first daytime Emmy awarded in the night time, and that was nice. You know, nobody had ever won [Lead Actress] for Y&R before. I never expected to win. This year, we may because Eileen [Davidson, Ashley] and Michelle [Stafford, Phyllis] are [nominated in Lead]; they’re phenomenal.

Find out what makes Jess phenomenal.

Susan Flannery [Stephanie, The Bold and the Beautiful] has influenced me a lot. Michelle [Stafford; Phyllis] has influenced me a lot. Elizabeth Hubbard [Lucinda, As the World Turns] has influenced me a lot; she’s phenomenal. Daniel Day Lewis has influenced me a lot. Who is my latest? There is somebody I’m using lately, and obviously I haven’t used them enough to remember who they are. I can’t remember; someone I saw. It just centers me, it grounds me, brings me down to the reality of it like Daniel Day Lewis always. His intensity is just mind boggling.