An award nomination is an accomplishment. Being nominated twice in the same awards competition is an emotional high. That’s what The Bold and the Beautiful’s Lawrence Saint-Victor, who is up for two awards at the 53rd Daytime Emmy Awards, is feeling. He’s recognized in the categories of Outstanding Supporting Performance in the Daytime Drama Series and Outstanding Writing Team, where he is credited as a writer.
A longtime member of the B&B family, Saint-Victor has played Carter Walton, the handsome, trusted lawyer and COO of the Forrester family and their haute fashion house, Forrester Creations, since 2013. He joined the series’ writing team in 2015 and received two previous nominations in the category in 2023 and 2024. With these dual nominations, he becomes the first Black man ever to be nominated in both categories simultaneously.
The nominations are more than just recognition. As the television landscape grows more homogeneous, Black voices who craft the story and star in it on screen are essential. Beyond the Gates, the first hour-long soap opera centered on a predominantly Black cast and creatives, received 15 nominations this year, the second-highest for a daytime drama series, proving the appetite for storytelling that reflects us needs to be nourished and fulfilled.
Saint-Victor shares what the magnitude of these nominations mean to him, below, in his own words:
“Being nominated is such an interesting and complex experience. I’ve felt a wide range of emotions. I found it incredibly vulnerable to submit myself for consideration. In a strange way, you’re telling your community, “I believe I deserve an Emmy.” I knew my work was good. I was proud of it. But now I was opening myself up to my peers’ judgment, and that was uncomfortable. Thankfully, I had wonderful people in my corner, rooting for me and encouraging me to take that chance.
Then I learned I wasn’t nominated for one Emmy, but two — Supporting Actor and Writing. I’ve sat with those thoughts and feelings for some time, thinking about what these nominations mean to me, especially as the first Black man in daytime to be nominated for acting and writing in the same year.
What keeps coming to me is gratitude.
So many Black men and women, both in front of and behind the camera, pushed the door open and kept pushing so that I could walk through. They fought to be seen, heard, and given an opportunity. I don’t take for granted that I get to stand on the other side of those doors now.
And I believe it’s my responsibility — as well as the responsibility of my brothers and sisters in this industry — to keep pushing. That feels especially important to me as a writer.
At a time when so many voices are being challenged, dismissed, or pushed aside, it matters that Black writers continue to have a place in this industry. Representation can’t exist only in front of the camera. Our perspective and our experiences need to be present in the work too.
Our experiences are not one thing. Black people are not one thing. We are romantic. We are funny. We are angry. We are heroic. We are flawed. We are sexy. We are vulnerable. We are complicated. We still have a lot of work to do, but we have also come so far.
Beyond the Gates broke records. Jamey Giddens made history with writing nominations for both Days of Our Lives and Beyond the Gates, and now he is one of the head writers on The Young and the Restless. Karla Mosley (nominated for Outstanding Lead Performance in a Daytime Drama Series for her role as Dani Dupree) plays a heroine, a romantic lead, and a wonderfully complicated woman on Beyond the Gates. Shemar Moore returned to The Young and the Restless. And I am nominated for Supporting Actor alongside two other Black men.
The fruit of the fight to be heard is coming to harvest. I am a leading man in a leading story on my show, and I’m also a writer on that very show. AND I stand on the shoulders of giants.
Our voices are being heard. I want to make sure that continues.
DO I think about what it would be like if I won? Of course I do. But the truth is, I feel like I already have. I get to create opportunities for representation. I get to help show the world that Black people are wonderfully and beautifully complex. That means everything to me.
So I celebrate this moment. And then I keep pushing. Because someone pushed the door open for me.”