Marks 20 years since Amelia Heinle took over the role of Victoria Newman, the oldest 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 and only daughter of supercouple Victor and Nikki Newman, on Young and Restless. While Y&R was her first soap for CBS, it was hardly her first foray into daytime.
Looking Back
This began with the role of of Steffy Brewster on Loving, back in 1992. She continued in the role when the soap morphed into The City in 1995 until the show went off the air in 1996. In 2001, she played Mia Saunders on All My Children, opposite current co-star J. Eddie Peck (now Cole; ex-Jake Martin, AMC). She left in 2004. The following year, she joined Y&R. She helped grow the heiress into the tough businesswoman, doting mother and fiercely protective daughter, earning her the respect of her peers and fans alike.
Since taking over the pivotal character from future Bold and Beautiful star Heather Tom back in 2005, the actress has won two Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, in 2014 and 2015, and has taken part in some of the show’s most daring and dramatic storylines.
Heinle spoke with Soap Opera Digest in 2023 about what it was like for her when she learned she had won the role. “I was really scared,” she said. “I was really overwhelmed. I had just come back to L.A. to try to break back into nighttime. I was like, ‘I don’t know if this is what I want to do.’ So the first day, I just committed to it, and it turned out to be a totally different experience than any other soap I’d been on. I realized it was a legacy show, and there was something really special about Eric and Mel [Thomas Scott, Nikki] and Peter [Bergman, Jack]. I could sense it.”
Reflecting on her decades in Genoa City, Heinle mused, “I’m so emotionally attached to everyone there now. It’s a huge honor. I’m so grateful for where I am. I love being on Y&R. I love Eric, I love Mel, I love my family. I don’t want to go anywhere else. I love the people, and I love the heart, and I love the spirit, and I love the process of what we all do. I don’t think I would change one thing. I’m completely floored that this is my career.”
Below, you can see the very first scene she had with Bergman, as well as what the show put together to celebrate her 20 years with the CBS soap – co-stars like Eric Braeden, Melody Tomas Scott, Jason Thompson (Billy), Michelle Stafford (Phyllis), Joshua Morrow (Nick) and others paying tribute to Heinle (and poking some fun). Check it out!
