For soap fans, Emmy season is always an exciting time as they get to celebrate the talented actors who bring their favorite characters to life day after day. This year, Days of Our Lives star Tamara Braun has extra reason to celebrate, earning her fifth career Daytime Emmy nomination for her nuanced portrayal of Ava Vitali.
While some actors go into the Emmy judging process with a clear idea of which scenes they want to submit, Braun took her time deciding how to best showcase her powerful work as the complicated Ava. After mulling over her options, she settled on a diverse collection of scenes that capture Ava’s intense emotional journey over the past year.
“She’s grown so, so much now. She’s evolved and continues to evolve,” Braun explained to Soaps.com about her character’s compelling arc. “She takes steps forward and then she falls back and tries to take a couple more forward and falls back. It’s a real human experience for Ava.”
Among the pivotal scenes Braun chose to highlight is the harrowing attack by the menacing Gill, played with chilling intensity by David Lee. “I definitely remembered how intense the scenes with Gil were and I thought, ‘Oh, I need to take a look at those for sure,'” the actress recalled.
Braun’s mother also played a role in her scene selection process. “When I’d first come back, she called me after watching some of those scenes and she said, ‘Tam, these scenes were so good. I just want you to know I loved your work and I loved watching them.’ So I thought, ‘Oh, I need to take a look at those again.'”
Rounding out her submission reel is a lighthearted, humorous scene featuring Ava’s interactions with Harris Michaels. For Braun, it was crucial to balance the high drama with glimpses of levity. “Soaps are often very heavy and melodramatic at times and dealing with some deep hard stuff,” she noted. “So I think it’s really important, not just when submitting, but whenever there’s an opportunity to bring something light to bring something fun to, you know, to find the humor because we need that in life.”
Clearly, Braun’s balanced approach resonated with Emmy judges, resulting in her first nomination for playing the role of Ava after previously being recognized for her work on General Hospital, where she took home a statuette in 2020. The news came as a welcome bright spot on her birthday. “It was a beautiful array of sunshine and a cloudy day,” she said of receiving the exciting news while under the weather.
While undoubtedly thrilled about her own nomination, Braun seems equally ecstatic for her Days of Our Lives co-stars like Linsey Godfrey and Emily O’Brien who are also nominated this year. “I’m so happy for her,” she gushed about Godfrey’s nod. “I saw it and I started screaming. I immediately picked up the phone and called her and was screaming on the phone. I was so excited for her. I just saw her name and lost my mind.”
In the lead-up to the Daytime Emmys, Braun is looking forward to the traditional pre-show luncheon where Lead Actress nominees get together in a spirit of camaraderie and support. Even better, she hopes to organize a separate Days of Our Lives celebration for the show’s talented nominees.
“I would love for all of us Days to get together and celebrate one another,” Braun said enthusiastically. “So I’m gonna suggest it.”
If that DAYS-themed gathering does come to fruition, you can be sure Braun will share all the delightful details from what is sure to be a joyous occasion honoring her and her colleagues’ incredible work. For now, she can bask in the well-deserved recognition for her gripping, emotionally layered performance as the one and only Ava Vitali.
