Paul Telfer Says His Late Mom ‘Loved Villains’ Like His Days of Our Lives Character as He Wins Lead Actor 2025 Daytime Emmy

This year’s leading man has been crowned at the 2025 Daytime Emmy Awards.

Paul Telfer won Lead Actor in a Daytime Drama Series at the 52nd annual ceremony in Pasadena, California, on Friday, Oct. 17. It marked his second nomination and first win for his role as Xander Kiriakis in Days of Our Lives.

“I just really would love to thank my wife, Carmen [Cusack], who can’t be here with me tonight,” he began his acceptance speech, explaining she is away working. “I really also want to thank everybody on Days of Our Lives.”

He went on to shout out the cast and crew of the beloved soap, along with the other nominees in the category, including Dominic Zamprogna, Eric Martsolf, Greg Rikaart and Peter Bergman.

“I just really need to say that the last thing I ever expected, talking about family and Days of Our Lives being a family . . . the last thing I ever expected was for my 80-year-old father to become a fan of soap operas,” he added. “And he did, whereas my mum always loved soaps, and she loved villains. . . . She’s been gone for over 20 years, and so to win this for a soap opera, playing a villain, is really wonderful.”

Telfer, 45, was the youngest of the nominees, and this marked his second nomination in the category, following his nod in 2020. He joined Days of Our Lives in 2015, and has appeared in over 700 episodes as Xander.

He called the nomination an “absolutely lovely surprise” in an Instagram post, as he wrote, “Forever grateful to work with these incredible performers who make me so much better at what I do.”

He also congratulated his costars and fellow nominees, Martsolf and Rikaart. “Just an honor to be nominated alongside you both,” he wrote.

Zamprogna, 46, was the sole General Hospital star in the category. He’s played Dante Falconeri on the soap since 2009 and has appeared in over 1,600 episodes as the mob boss.

He briefly departed the series in 2018, only to return for several episodes the following year, and in 2020, he was back as a regular.

This year marked his fifth nomination and second in the category, and as he told Woman’s World, “I gotta say, I would like to win. But nominated is really cool!”

Martsolf, 54, has been playing Brady Black on Days of Our Lives since 2008 and has appeared in over 1,800 episodes. This nomination was his third in the category and fifth overall. He won a Daytime Emmy in 2014 for Outstanding Supporting Actor for the role.

Martsolf felt like he was “on a very good nomination run,” as he told Woman’s World. “I think work ethic has a lot to do with it. Although I still don’t feel like I’m working for a living, which was John Aniston’s biggest thing, too. I love my job, so sitting down and dissecting material is fun for me.”

Rikaart, 48, earned his second nomination for Days of Our Lives this year, a follow-up to his 2019 nod. He joined the soap in 2018 as Leo Stark, after a close to two-decade run on The Young and the Restless as Kevin Fisher.

He has six other previous nominations, and he took home the award in 2005 for The Young and the Restless, the role that kick-started his career.

He initially joined the soap “for a 10 or 20-episode arc,” he previously told PEOPLE, but once he got there, it was a different story. “I had drank the Kool-Aid and was just happy to have a job.”

Bergman is the most seasoned vet of the nominees, having starred on The Young and the Restless as Jack Abbott since 1989. In 2019, he celebrated his 30th anniversary on the show, though he told CBS News he didn’t want anyone “making a big deal” about it.

This year’s nomination marked his 24th nomination for the role, and he’s won in the category three times: 1991, 1992 and 2002.

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The 2025 Daytime Emmys are being presented in Los Angeles on Friday, October 17 and streaming live on watch.theemmys.tv and on the Emmys app.