Elizabeth Hendrickson on her final Y&R goodbye and Melissa Claire Egan's  bold  move

Y&R's Elizabeth Hendrickson may have walked away from soap operas last year, but her Emmy nomination is giving her one more chance to say goodbye to the world she left behind -- and one more chance to make it a truly golden exit.

The Young and the Restless' Elizabeth Hendrickson (ex-Chloe Mitchell) may be long gone from Genoa City, but she certainly hasn't been forgotten. And that fact was just proven via her nomination in the Outstanding Supporting Actress category for this year's Daytime Emmys. How does the actress feel about revisiting the world of daytime? Does the nomination mean she'll consider returning to Genoa City? And what does she think of her former costar Melissa Claire Egan's (Chelsea Lawson) choice to submit herself in the Lead Actress category for the first time? Read on to find out.

Congratulations. Does this make you miss Y&R?

Oh, you know. It makes me more excited to visit my friends. I miss Y&R all the time! It's just funny, I was just saying, I was so close to not submitting.

Really? But you had some awesome stuff.Yeah, but it was because I was gone. It's a full year later, I didn't know how that would be received. I never know how to deal with that... but it was like, you know, my last year I felt like it was my best year, so why not give it one more shot?

How did you find out?I was in my backyard, and I knew that the nominations were going to be announced on The Talk, but I had read the time differently... I haven't watched TV for so long because I don't have cable, so I don' t know when anything is on. My phone buzzed, and I picked it up, and there was a message from [Y&R's associate producer/publicist] Jimmy [Freeman] saying congratulations. It was so unexpected. Other years, you know that it happens in the morning. It's like Christmas morning. You go to bed and [think], "Am I going to get the call at 5:30 in the morning?" Then when you wake up at 8:30 and nothing woke you up, you're like, "Aw, I didn't get the call." I really, really was not expecting it this year. It was a really pleasant surprise.

What did you end up submitting?I submitted my exit show. I submitted my goodbye. A year prior, I obviously went for the soapy losing [Delia] drama... I also chose it because it meant something emotional to me. I usually tend to submit on the lighter side, but this was my most honest work that I had of a full show... The Delia stuff was pretty much done with, and I'd already been there, done that, and it was really all about one scene. It was my scene with Greg [Rikaart, Kevin Fisher], and I say goodbye to him. I still get chills thinking about it. I remember for us it was ... it was like having a real goodbye with one of your best friends. It was really fitting. Last year, last day, last submission. That's how that happened.

Are you disappointed for anyone who didn't get a nomination?I was bummed that [Greg] didn't submit. I think everything he does is gold. I was really bummed not to see Missy [Melissa Claire Egan, Chelsea Lawson] ... get nominated. I was really proud to see her submit in Lead Actress. I think that was an awesome, bold, well-deserved move on hers. So I was bummed not to see her up there, because I think she deserved it. You never know how these things work.

Any idea for fashion?No. I'm kind of looking to be low-key. I'm not stressing about anything this year. [laughs] I might even find something in my closet and throw that on!

Does this nomination give you the itch to come back to soaps?You know, to be honest with you, I think I'll always have the itch. Even before I left, I had the itch. Soaps are a very large part of who I am, where I come from, friends, and what I've learned. There will always be that special place in my heart for it. It almost feels at this point when you fall in love with someone, but it didn't work out, but you always have that "what if" at the back of your mind. I miss everyone, and I miss work all the time, and that itch will never go away. That's not to say that I will be going back anytime soon. It's funny when people are like, "Oh, come back." I'm like, "Well, nobody has been knocking on my door!" I know the door was left open and I was able to come back, but no one is begging for me to come back, so I haven't even come to that place.

You had a very busy schedule after you first left. Have things settled? Are you going out on auditions? Yeah. I'm back to being an unemployed, struggling actress. Gardening. Working out. I'm going to go have lunch with my friends. I had my first pilot season... which was a whole new ballgame and very difficult. But it is what it is... It's so brutal these days. It's not the way it used to be when I started. Film actresses are really taking over TV and getting all sorts of offers. It's a whole new ballgame. There are a lot more people. And I've been out of the loop for a couple of years. And I'm pushing for comedy. You have to have a lot of patience banging on doors, and I have to be patient. It's one of the reasons I've been doing this for so long. I've been patient since I started. That's the only reason why any actor is still standing, it's because they've had 100,000 "noes" before they had one "yes." It's just a matter of waiting for the "yes."

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MORE DAYTIME EMMY REACTION• Kristoff St. John discusses the old-fashioned story that earned him an Emmy nod• Y&R star Amelia Heinle discusses the possibility of back-to-back wins• Elizabeth Hendrickson on her final Y&R goodbye and Melissa Claire Egan's "bold" move• Max Ehrich on the real-life tears his Emmy submission caused• Christian LeBlanc on the blood, sweat, and tears (of others) that landed him an Emmy nomination• Gina Tognoni celebrates her first Y&R Emmy nom• They're no longer a B&B couple, but Linsey Godfrey and Jacob Young are co-nominees• DAYS star Alison Sweeney on her first-ever Daytime Emmy nod• GH overcome with emotion after first Emmy nom• Nominee jokes, "Do I just show up" at the Emmys?• Lisa Locicero on her first Emmy nom and being pregnant on the Red Carpet

Are you happy to see Hendrickson's name on this year's Emmy nominee list? Would you like to see her return to the world of soap operas, or would you rather see her find success in comedy? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below, on our message boards, or by submitting Feedback.

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