Amelia Heinle Celebrates 20 Years as Victoria Newman on The Young and the Restless 

Time flies when you're playing angst and winning Daytime Emmys. Amelia Heinle began her journey as Victoria Newman on The Young and the Restless 20 years ago today!

The Young and the Restless anniversary time

The actress beat out some name folks who auditioned for the part after the show decided to recast the role, which had previously been played by Heather Tom (Katie, The Bold and the Beautiful).

Viewers were reintroduced to the character when it was revealed she was living in Italy and had taken up an interest in art. Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman) approached his ex-step-daughter and enticed her to return to Genoa City with a job offer at Jabot.

Michael Baldwin (Christian LeBlanc), Vicki's most recent romantic partner (they hadn't truly gotten off the ground), had a full dance card so, the Newman heiress revisited her dynamic with Brad Carlton (Don Diamont). They wed, but their union didn't survive after Vicki miscarried their child and Vicki learned of Brad's fling with Sharon (Sharon Case) before their wedding.

Victoria's complicated love life

Victoria fell in love with J.T. Hellstrom both on and off-screen (Heinle and Thad Luckinbill, J.T.'s portrayer wed in real life). She gave birth to their son, Reed. Alas, other entanglements — hers with Deacon Sharpe (Sean Kanan), and his with Mac Browning and Colleen Carlton — derailed their union.

Once again single, Victoria took up with Billy Abbott (then played by Billy Miller, now Jason Thompson) despite (or perhaps because of?) her father Victor not liking Billy one iota. After miscarrying Billy's child, he tried to secure a baby for them. They tried to adopt Lucy but that plan failed, which was devastating to the couple.

Next, Billy's life was thrown into turmoil after his daughter, Delia came down with leukemia and needed a transplant. Further drama entered Vicki's life when Chelsea (Melissa Claire Egan) entered the scene, announcing she was pregnant with Billy's son, who was named Johnny.

Billy's gambling problems resulted in Victoria being kidnapped by bad buy Eddie G. Despite this, Vicki made efforts to reunite with Billy after she'd been rescued. Those efforts failed and Victoria took up with Stitch (Sean Carrigan), who ended up marrying Abby (Melissa Ordway), Victoria's half-sister.

Frightening times in Victoria's life

Later, J.T. made a surprise return to Genoa City, a very different man. Viewers learned that J.T. had an abusive streak in him. Vicki, Sharon, Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott), and Phyllis (then played by Gina Tognoni, now Michelle Stafford) were all present one night when J.T. was presumed killed in an act of self-defense.

Believing that their story wouldn't hold up, the women lied. Phyllis turned on them and Vicki, Sharon, and Nikki were off to jail. The women were exonerated when J.T. turned up alive. His abusive actions were explained away as having some kind of tumor. But J.T. went off to jail anyway.

Next, Victoria became involved with another powerful man — Ashland Locke (Richard Burgi and Robert Newman). First, it was revealed that Ashland had come to Genoa City to sell his company. Vicki was among the bidders. The two fell in love and married in a glorious ceremony in Italy that brought Leslie Brooks back to the canvas. This union ended viewers learned that Ashland lied about his medical condition. His body was found dead after a car crash.

The Y&R writers dipped into Vicki's past for her next storyline. Claire Grace (Hayley Erin), her mother Nikki's new assistant, turned out to be Victoria's presumed dead daughter, Eve Nicole Howard, the baby she gave birth that was fathered by her ex-husband, Cole! Vicki joined her family in a battle against evil Aunt Jordan (Colleen Zenk), Eve Howard's sister, who had taken the baby after her presumed death. Victoria has taken up again with Cole after he came back into her life.

Soap Central congratulates Heinle on her 20 years as Victoria Newman on The Young and the Restless!

Catch all-new episodes of The Young and the Restless on CBS and Paramount Plus.