By Charmaine Patterson, People

Mishael Morgan is celebrating her historic win at the 2022 Daytime Emmy Awards.

The Young and the Restless star, 35, won best outstanding lead performance in a daytime drama: actress at the 49th annual ceremony on Friday night, making her the first Black actress to win an Emmy in the lead acting category.

Morgan, who portrays Amanda Sinclair and previously played Hilary Curtis on the long-running CBS soap opera, received a standing ovation upon winning the coveted award, and opened up about her upbringing during her acceptance speech.

“I was born on a tiny island in the Caribbean, and I’m now standing on an international stage and I am being honored regardless of the color of my skin, regardless of my passport, for being the best at what I do,” she began. “Now there are little girls around the world and no matter what the industry, the vocation … they can strive to be the best.”

She continued: “I need to thank the fans and everybody sitting at home. They embraced me when I came on this show and I am so immensely proud of our generation.”

“We are breaking glass ceilings left right and center and I am so honored to be a vessel and to experience this moment. Everybody out there today, we can do this thing called equality and unity together,” she added.

The historic win comes just months after she suffered an unthinkable tragedy.

In late March, the actress shared that her husband Navid Ali’s brother Nazir, along with his wife Raven O’Dea and their three children, all died in a house fire in Brampton, Ontario, Canada.

“On Monday morning my husband’s only brother, perished with his wife & 3 kids in a tragic house fire,” Morgan tweeted in part at the time. “I am still in absolute disbelief.”

Raven O’Dea’s father, Louie Felipa, said the fire grew out of control due in part to the fact that there were no working fire alarms in the home in an interview with Global News.

  entertainment, Mishael Morgan