INTERVIEW: Steve Burton reacts to his Emmy nomination

Daytime Emmy nominee Steve Burton (Jason Morgan, General Hospital) opens up about how it feels to receive his eighth Emmy nomination, which scenes he submitted this year, and what he thinks is the silver lining of the production shutdown.

You'd think that with seven Daytime Emmy Award nominations already under his belt (and two wins), getting one more nod might not feel quite as exciting to General Hospital actor Steve Burton, who just received a nomination in the Outstanding Lead Actor category -- his eighth nomination in total. But he tells Soap Central that this moment is truly and honestly just as exciting as the first -- if not more so.

Soap Central: Congratulations on your Emmy nomination!

Steve Burton: Thank you very much, I appreciate it. Thank you.

Soap Central: So how are you feeling about your nomination?

Burton: It never gets old, getting nominated, I'll tell you that. Every year is so different, and the rules are different, and you never know if you have enough stuff. One of our producers, Michelle Henry, I kind of left it up to her to pick something. I was like, "I don't know, what do you think?" And she was like, "Well, probably this," and I said, "You just pick it, and it's fine!" And she did, and it worked! It's awesome, and I'm excited. Lead actor is awesome. I mean, any nomination is great, but being lead actor is really cool.

Soap Central: You've been nominated several times, so is that how you normally do it, leaning on others' advice about your submission scenes?

Burton: Yeah, most of the time I do, yeah. Like I said, it's so hard sometimes because it changes every year, with, "Hey, you can do ten minutes," or "You can put four shows in," or "No, just two shows." And I'm always last minute. [The person] at work who coordinates it all said, "Hey, I need your Emmy show today!" And I was like, "Aaagghhh, I didn't pick it yet!" [Laughs] The producers are always so gracious enough to help us and edit it and do all the stuff, but I left it up to Michelle this year, and she said, "I think this is good," so I said, "Cool, let's go for it."

Soap Central: So which direction did you end up going? What scenes are on your reel?

Burton: If I recall correctly, it was a good run of scenes with Laura Wright [Carly Corinthos] in Sonny's [Maurice Benard] penthouse after court, when Sam [Kelly Monaco] was going back to jail.

Soap Central: Any scene with Laura Wright, and you're golden, right?

Burton: It's always really simple and easy with her. I love her, she's awesome. We have a great connection and great chemistry. It's really not hard to do really good scenes with her because she's always great.

Soap Central: What do you think about the competition in your category? You've got Jon Lindstrom [Kevin Collins] from General Hospital and then, of course, several other very talented men.

Burton: Yes! And Jason Thompson [Billy Abbott, The Young and the Restless] and Thorsten [Kaye, Ridge Forrester, The Bold and the Beautiful] and Thaao [Penghlis, Andre DiMera, Days of our Lives]. It's great. Look, I think during this time, it's so fun just to be able to, especially with the quarantine and us not shooting and other shows not shooting, it's just been [nice to be a part of it]. The daytime community has had a really great chance to reconnect during this time, which I've found interesting. And then, all of a sudden, we have the Emmys back on primetime, and people are talking about it now online, which is really cool. This quarantine might have done us all some good!

Soap Central: I agree! I feel like now that the shows are airing reruns, people realize what they had and what they're missing, and they're suddenly not taking soap operas for granted anymore.

Burton: Yeah, and I think it's great. I'm excited. It's always great to be nominated. Maurice and everybody texted, which was nice. Everyone's been reaching out, which is really cool.

Soap Central: So, who did you share your nomination news with first?

Burton: My wife! [Laughs] She was first. My kids don't know yet. We're going to watch it live when it airs here in California, so I have to act like I don't know.

Soap Central: Uh, I don't think that will be too hard for you!

Burton: Yeah, all I have to do is stare at them, and I'll be fine. [Laughs] But it's fun. I'm so excited.

Soap Central: Do you plan to celebrate at all this evening?

Burton: I don't know yet. I'm sure we'll celebrate, but maybe we'll wait until the restrictions are a little looser, and then we can really go out and celebrate.

Soap Central: Is there anything else that you'd like to add?

Burton: Congratulations to all the other nominees, and I'm looking forward to that night! It's going to be fun.

What do you think about Steve Burton landing a Daytime Emmy nomination in this year's Lead Actor category? Do you think he will take home the gold on Emmy night? 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.