Lisa LoCicero celebrates first Emmy nomination; explains why her submission risk paid off

After seven years of playing GH's Olivia Falconeri, Lisa LoCicero managed to snag her very first Emmy nomination. Who will she have by her side come Emmy night, and what went into the tough decision of choosing which episode to submit for consideration? Read on to find out.

General Hospital's Lisa LoCicero (Olivia Falconeri) has definitely made her mark in Port Charles, but this year, she's finally getting the chance to make her mark in the Daytime Emmy race, as well. The actress has received her first-ever Emmy nomination, and she'll be going up against some of daytime's most talented performers in the Supporting Actress category. Who does she hope to have by her side during this year's event, and what does she think about GH sweeping the nominations? Soap Central spoke with the actress to get the scoop.

soapcentral.com: Congratulations on your very first nomination!Lisa LoCicero: Thank you. Thank you so much. I am truly thrilled and honored.

soapcentral.com: How did you find out that you'd been nominated?Actually, my wonderful boss, [GH executive producer] Frank Valentini, gave me a call to congratulate me and give me the good news. And it's funny, thinking back, I didn't know who else was nominated for anything, so I wasn't aware that I should have congratulated him, as well. Or all the other people that would have been appropriate to congratulate. So I just said, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I was so excited.

soapcentral.com: GH leads the pack for nominations. You guys just kicked some butt this year!Yeah! And what a great thing, after last year's sort of crummy Emmy turnout.

soapcentral.com: Yeah, last year was an unfortunate shutout for General Hospital. It was such a disappointment. So I'm glad the tables have turned.This was a lovely turnaround. I jumped on Twitter and looked at some of the sites, and I thought, "Wow, we really cleaned up!" And it's fantastic. I'm so proud of the team and the family, the whole thing.

soapcentral.com: After you got off the phone with Frank, who did you tell first that you'd been nominated?Well, my husband [Michael Patrick Jann] was sitting in the other room, so he was pretty psyched. He's my biggest cheerleader. He's doing cheerleading moves right now [laughs]. My son was also pretty psyched. He said, "You won an Emmy?!" And I said, "No, I didn't win an Emmy. But I was nominated." And he said, "Well that's really good, too." I texted my mom. Literally, every year that I don't [get nominated or win] an Emmy, she's furious. She's like, "But you were very good this year! You were very good." So she's pretty excited. And then my phone started pinging like a pinball machine, which was really fun. And all the people on Twitter and everything. It's one of those days, like on your birthday, that Twitter feels like a nice worldwide family of people who have nice things to say.

soapcentral.com: I'll bet your poor phone is falling apart.Oh, I'm doing the rare "speaking on the landline phone" thing.

soapcentral.com: Landline phones still exist?! Wow.It has push buttons and everything [laughs].

soapcentral.com: So which scenes did you submit this year?I used the show where Olivia gets drunk with Ned [Wally Kurth] and is upset about Sonny [Maurice Benard] sleeping with Ava [Maura West], and she tries to adopt all the animals from the animal shelter. Which was really another thing Twitter is good at. It really is a gigantic barometer of how the public feels about this, that, or anything else that you do or say. So on the upside, that episode got such a big response. And because it's sort of a funny piece, I think that worked in my favor, because most of the other stuff was quite serious material, and I know for the judges, sometimes it's nice to have that little respite. They go, "Ah, I got to giggle for a minute."

soapcentral.com: Sometimes it's a risk to send in something comedic, but there have been many instances where it has paid off. Was it a difficult choice for you? Or did you just know immediately that would be what you'd submit?I was pretty sure that was what I would use. The second in the running was when Olivia found out that Sonny had slept with Ava, and I watched them both back-to-back, and you get a feeling. One makes you more comfortable, or just speaks to you more. And I felt [the one I submitted] was a little more universal. Anyone who's ever seen one of those [animal adoption] ads knows that you either almost run to the phone or you do run to the phone, and when you're drunk, God knows what can happen! But you know, I think it's a really great example of that character-based writing that the writers like to write, and actors love to play, and viewers like to watch, that happened on that day. But really, both of those days, I got great material. But I thought this one would stand out a little bit more.

soapcentral.com: Do you normally go with your own instinct when choosing episodes, or do you listen to your family, friends, costars, etc? Everybody has an opinion.Yeah, and it's a hard thing when one of your fellow cast mates asks you, and they feel very strongly about one thing, and you're thinking, "Nooooooo, don't put that in!" Like how do you say that? You can't just blurt out, "For God's sake, don't submit that!" But I felt like all the way around... that was the one that most of my fans responded to the most. So I felt fairly confident it was the best I had to offer for that year. It's much more difficult in years that you don't have one or two standout days. Like, I remember what I was feeling when I played this scene, and it really felt real for me to play. That's not necessarily how the public responds to it, you know.

soapcentral.com: GH really swept the nominations, but is there anybody whose name was missing from the list, you think?Well, the one that stands out to me is Maurice. I mean, I think his work is always pretty stellar. So that's the first thing. He should have been on the pre-nom list, because I think he did some rally great work this year.

soapcentral.com: Do you have any idea who you might take to the event this year? Will you bring your husband?You know, I guess I'll have to ask around this year and see if I'm allowed to bring somebody. This is my first nomination, so it would be really nice sitting next to my husband. Whether I win or lose, it would be nice to be holding his hand.

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Are you excited for LoCicero's first Emmy nomination? Do you think she'll take home the gold? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.

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