Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series


The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series is an award presented annually by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. It is given to honor an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role while working within the daytime drama industry.
At the 6th Daytime Emmy Awards held in 1979, Suzanne Rogers was the first winner of this award, for her role as Maggie Horton on Days of Our Lives. The awards ceremony was not aired on television in 1983 and 1984, having been criticized for voting integrity. Following the introduction of a new category in 1985, Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series, one criterion for this category was altered, requiring all actresses to be aged 26 or above.
Since its inception, the award has been given to 35 actresses. General Hospital is the soap opera with the most awarded actresses, with a total of eight. In 1989, Nancy Lee Grahn and Debbi Morgan made Daytime Emmy Award history when they tied in this category. Morgan also became the first African-American woman to have garnered the award. Julia Barr, Tamara Braun, Grahn, Amelia Heinle, and Gina Tognoni are the only actresses to have won the award twice. Heinle is the only to have won it, consecutively. Both, Heather Tom and Melissa Claire Egan have the most nominations in this category, with a total of five. As of the 2020 ceremony, Tamara Braun is the most recent winner in this category, for her role as Dr. Kim Nero on General Hospital.

Winners and nominees

Listed below are the winners of the award for each year, as well as the other nominees.
Indicates the winner
*Indicates posthumous nominee

Multiple wins and nominations

The following individuals received two wins in this category:
WinsActress
2Julia Barr
2Tamara Braun
2Nancy Lee Grahn
2Amelia Heinle
2Gina Tognoni

is one of the actresses who has received the award more than once, winning twice for her role as Brooke English on All My Children. |alt=A women with short hair, wearing shirt, while holding the bars of a fictional prison.
is one of the actresses with the most nominations in this category. She was nominated for her roles on The Young and the Restless and One Life to Live, before receiving a nomination in 2008 and winning in 2011 for her role as Katie Logan Spencer on The Bold and the Beautiful.|alt=A women with red hair, wearing a blue outfit.
is the actress with the most nominations and no wins in this category. She was nominated three times for her role as Annie Lavery on All My Children and twice for her role as Chelsea Newman on The Young and the Restless|alt=A women with brunette hair stylized in a bun, wearing a black, blue, and white outfit.
The following individuals received two or more nominations in this category:
NominationsActress
5
Melissa Claire Egan
5
Heather Tom
4Jane Elliot
4Nancy Lee Grahn
4Elizabeth Hendrickson
4Lois Kibbee
4Robin Mattson
3Rebecca Budig
3Sharon Case
3Crystal Chappell
3Robin Christopher
3Maureen Garrett
3Linsey Godfrey
3Eileen Herlie
3Maeve Kinkead
3Elizabeth Lawrence
3Vanessa Marcil
3Cady McClain
3Julie Pinson
3Victoria Rowell
3Gina Tognoni
3Kathleen Widdoes
3Bree Williamson
3Jacklyn Zeman
2-
2Julia Barr
2Tamara Braun
2Lisa Brown
2Tracey E. Bregman
2Jessica Collins
2Darlene Conley
2Linda Dano
2Beth Ehlers
2Judi Evans
2Genie Francis
2Renée Elise Goldsberry
2Amelia Heinle
2Kelley Menighan Hensley
2Rebecca Herbst
2Lynn Herring
2Finola Hughes
2Melina Kanakaredes
2Lesli Kay
2Ilene Kristen
2Jill Larson
2Beth Maitland
2Peggy McCay
2Mishael Morgan
2Kelly Ripa
2Melissa Reeves
2Louise Shaffer
2Arleen Sorkin
2Kelly Sullivan
2Jess Walton
2Maura West
2Tonya Lee Williams
2Arianne Zucker

Series with most awards

WinsProgram
9
General Hospital
7
All My Children
6
Guiding Light
6
The Young and the Restless
4
Days of our Lives
3
As the World Turns
1
Another World
1
The Bold and the Beautiful
1
One Life to Live
1
Ryan's Hope
1
Santa Barbara