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Some folks go into Emmy season knowing exactly what they want to submit for a nomination, while others, like Days of Our Lives‘ Tamara Braun, need a little more time to decide on what they want the judges to take a look at. While this is Braun’s fifth Emmy nomination — including two for her work on General Hospital, the second of which she won in 2020 for playing Kim Nero — her first Emmy nomination and win came in 2009, after her initial six month stint “playing,” she tells Soaps.com, “the wonderful Ava Vitali. I’m so excited that I’m nominated again as her. She’s grown so, so much now. She’s evolved and continues to evolve.”

This past year has been tough for sure as Ava’d tried to turn her life around, only to be pulled back into the criminal life, solely to protect her beloved son, Tripp. As Braun puts it, “She takes steps forward and then she falls back and tries to take a couple more forward and falls back. It’s a real human experience for Ava. So, I feel very grateful to continue to play her.”

As for the scenes she chose to showcase her work as Ava, the actress explains that she pulled from a variety — including Gil’s traumatizing attack. “I definitely remembered how intense the scenes with Gil — David Lee — were and I thought, ‘Oh, I need to take a look at those for sure.’”

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Plus, her mom proved a huge help . “When I’d first come back,” Braun shares, “she called me after watching some of those scenes and she said, ‘Tam, these scenes were so good. I just want you to know I loved your work and I loved watching them.’ So I thought, ‘Oh, I need to take a look at those again.’”

It all came together when she threw in a lighthearted scene with Harris. “Soaps are often very heavy and melodramatic at times and dealing with some deep hard stuff,” says Braun. “So I think it’s really important, not just when submitting, but whenever there’s an opportunity to bring something light to bring something fun to, you know, to find the humor because we need that in life. I think we need that.”

Clearly, it worked to earn her an Emmy nomination. Still, as excited as she was to learn of her nomination — Braun had gotten the news on her birthday when she wasn’t feeling well and, “It was a beautiful array of sunshine and a cloudy day.” — we might say she was even more excited to learn of her friends and co-stars nominations.

Her reaction to learning of Linsey Godfrey’s nomination for playing Sarah was, quite literally, to yell her joy into the universe. “I’m so happy for her,” Braun shared with an infectious enthusiasm. “I saw it and I started screaming. I immediately picked up the phone and called her and was screaming on the phone. I was so excited for her. I just saw her name and lost my mind. And then I saw that Emily [O’Brien, Theresa/Gwen] was [nominated as well]. I’m just thrilled because I love these women. It is so nice that people are supportive in our field.”

One especially great thing about being nominated in the Lead Actress category as that the nominated ladies traditionally get together at a lunch before the awards in a beautiful moment of camaraderie and support. And as excited as Braun is for that — especially since she’s worked with and knows so many of her fellow lead nominees — “I would love for all of us Days to get together and celebrate one another. So I’m gonna suggest it.”

Spoiler alert: We hear it may indeed be happening! And if it does, “I’ll let you know how it goes,” she promises.