Greg Rikaart Dishes on Daytime Emmy Nomination and ‘Soapy’ Podcast: ‘I Drank The Kool-Aid Early On’ (EXCLUSIVE)
The 'Days of Our Lives' and 'Y&R' star talks Lead Actor Nomination, Leo’s drama and fatherhood
As Leo falls for Sophia’s baby on Days of Our Lives, portrayer Greg Rikaart gets candid with Woman’s World about balancing all of his jobs—from soap opera hunk and Soapy podcast co-host to dad and husband—and reveals whether The Young and the Restless fans can expect to see him pop up as Kevin soon.
The Daytime Emmy-winner also reflects on graduating to the Leading Man category alongside his Days of Our Lives co-stars Eric Martsolf and Paul Telfer, The Young and the Restless icon Peter Bergman, and General Hospital star Dominic Zamprogna.
Plus, with Soapy Hosted by Rebecca Budig and Greg Rikaart episode featuring The Young and the Restless’ Lauralee Bell now live and General Hospital’s Maurice Benard slated to drop next week, Rikaart dishes on his new podcast with The Bold and the Beautiful star and All My Children alum—calling it “a lovefest for this genre.”
‘Days’ star Greg Rikaart says his Lead Actor Daytime Emmy nom ‘feels like a graduation’
When Greg Rikaart landed on The Young and the Restless as Creepy Kevin in 2003, he’d wrapped a recurring gig on Dawson’s Creek, appeared as a teen in X2, and was finally seeing results after three years of auditioning. Unlike many young actors who come to daytime, however, he never looked back.
“I drank the Kool-Aid very early on,” Rikaart cracks. “I didn’t have that ambition to pursue ‘bigger and better things,’ because I had already seen how hard it was out there. I had something that was sustaining me and something that I was successful at, so I remember being happy to have that job and happy to stay there for as long as they wanted me.”
Two years into his Genoa City run, Rikaart earned the 2005 Daytime Emmy for Supporting Actor, and he’d go on to be nominated again in that category for both The Young and the Restless and Days of Our Lives—but this year, he’s stepped up to Lead Actor for his work as Salem’s Leo.
“It definitely hits a little different,” he says of this nomination. “It feels like a graduation of sorts. I’m super honored to be nominated alongside Paul and Eric, of course, and Dominic is terrific. But I have admired Peter since my first day at The Young and the Restless, so being nominated alongside him is a particularly satisfying thrill.”
Rikaart reveals how Baby Jude helped him land his nomination
With his Days of Our Lives character, well, a total character, Rikaart has gone the comedy route with his Emmy submission reels in the past.
“I’ve been told when I do that it’s a breath of fresh air… but it never gets me a nomination,” he says. “So I played by the rules this year, and I submitted a monologue where Leo has baby Jude and he’s expressing his concerns to the baby about the baby’s future.
“What I liked about that scene was that it’s just me—because the baby is obviously just a doll,” he adds. “That felt like a nice showcase. And then I submitted the scene when Leo visits Diana in the prison. I kept it short and sweet. Leave people wanting more!”
Rikaart talks Leo and Javi baby drama
While the Baby Jude madness helped Rikaart land the nomination, Leo’s now embroiled in a brand-new baby storyline as he and Al Calderon’s Javi fall in love a cutie that just happens to be the bundle Sophia left in the Safe Haven box.
“The Baby Jude storyline certainly impacted Leo, but this is personal,” Rikaart says. “Leo and Javi are very much front and center in this, and it’s been fun to share the heft of that with Al.”
After that wild love triangle between Leo, his bestie Gwen, and her fiancé at the time, Dimitri, Rikaart is enjoying having his own leading man.
“I just adore Javi,” he gushes. “He had big shoes to fill, coming off of that storyline with (portrayers) Peter Porte and Emily O’Brien—who I also adore—and he completely nailed it. As a scene partner, he’s wildly talented, fully emotionally available and game to play and find fun nuances. He’s also a good 15 years younger than me, so he reminds me, in many ways, of myself when I was a bit younger. He’s going through a lot of the growth and evolution that we all do at that time in our lives.”
‘Towing the line’ with extravagant, gay Leo
While Rikaart is playing the older man in this romance, some might argue Leo—who was initially brought to Salem to create a scandal in 2018—is finally growing up, himself.
“Ron Carlivati took a big swing with this character and gave him a brilliant beginning,” Rikaart says, referring to the soap’s former showrunner. “I never considered Leo a gay villain, but he was certainly a gay mischief maker! He did not play by the conventional rules of many characters that came before him—and certainly no gay character who came before him.”
Since scribes Paula Cwikly and Jeanne Marie Ford have taken over, another side of Leo has emerged.
“They have taken that baton and delved more into what lies beneath the surface, which is a fun evolution,” Rikaart says. “I had some scene today with Emily O’Brien that towed that line—where it was poignant and meaningful, but there was also a lot of humor peppered in. That’s the sweet spot for Leo. He’s firing on all cylinders when he gets to be himself, but also can dig into genuine emotion.”
The ‘Days’ and ‘Y&R’ star calls ‘Soapy’ podcast ‘a lovefest for this genre’
Rikaart, who is a self-described Daytime TV cheerleader, has gotten even soapier this summer. As co-hosts of the new podcast Soapy, he and Rebecca Budig are sharing laughs and trading behind-the-scenes secrets with some of daytime’s biggest icons.
With the Eric Braeden, Deidre Hall, and Sheila Ducksworth episodes live, this week’s Lauralee Bell sit-down will be followed by chats with Maurice Benard and then Heather Tom and Lawrence Saint-Victor, together.
“It truly feels like a lovefest for this genre and these shows,” Rikaart says. “The most remarkable part is just how candid and vulnerable people are willing to be. On more than one occasion, a box of tissues has come out—whether it’s been for Rebecca, me, or our guest.”
Soapy is available on Audacy or wherever podcasts are available, with full video episodes on the CBS YouTube Channel.
Dad Greg Rikaart talks work/life balance
Having caught Rikaart between a family micro-emergency that involved a bee sting and his Days of Our Lives job, we had to ask about how the actor and his husband, Robert Sudduth—a writer/executive producer who’s worked on the Apple+ series Acapulco and Paramount+ series Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies—balance their careers with their roles as fathers to Monte, 10.
“I’m very involved in Monte’s life, and I think we’re doing something right, because he likes us and wants to be around us,” Rikaart grins. “But if it’s been a super long day and I’m just beat when I get home, communication is key. He’s at an age now where I can say, ‘Hey, I don’t have the bandwidth to wrestle or play soccer. Let’s just hang out and watch a little TV, play a board game or do something that requires less movement.’
“Rob and I also make a good team,” he adds. “If one of us is super busy, the other one can pick up the slack. And it takes a village. We’ve got each other and we’ve got friends and other support when we need it.”
On bringing Kevin back to ‘Y&R’ – ‘I’m super busy over here at Days’
As Rikaart revels in receiving his first Daytime Emmy nomination for Lead Actor and geeks out over getting to dish on soap opera life with stars like Lauralee Bell, Maurice Benard and Eric Braeden on Soapy, the actor admits he would love to bring Kevin back to The Young and the Restless.
“I sure do miss everybody over there,” Rikaart admits to Woman’s World. “I always love to go back and visit when I can, but I’m super busy over here at Days of Our Lives, and that’s a great thing. I don’t have much time—nor do I have any complaints!
“I have a wonderful work/life balance, and so many things that bring me happiness and satisfaction in my life,” he concludes. “I have no regrets about a Sliding Doors potential life that could have existed if I didn’t end up spending 20-plus years working in daytime. I just love my jobs, plural.”
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