The Young and the Restless’ 25 Greatest Characters of All Time, Ranked
Friday, August 28th, 2020
We hate to play favorites… except for the fact that we love to.
Deciding that one character on The Young and the Restless is (cough) “better” than another is kinda like choosing which potato chip in a bag is superior to the rest — in other words, it’s impossible. But we here at Soaps.com are not only professionals, yo, we’re ambitious as heck, so we have made it our mission today to rank 25 prominent residents of Genoa City in order of their relative awesomeness.
Included in our Who’s Who of Who’s Intriguing are a couple of local moguls who’ve never met a boardroom that they couldn’t turn into a boxing ring, a supervixen who once redefined the term “hell on wheels,” a sweetheart who’s less everywoman than every woman we might aspire to be, and a Jabot Cosmetics photographer whose intense visage never failed to pull focus. Told ya they were an intriguing lot!
And that grouping is just the tip of the iceberg! Our Top 25 also encompasses a spitfire whose hot head and short fuse more often than not left her burned, a pop star who really, ahem, rocked our world, and a bitch goddess who would’ve clawed out her nemeses’ eyes even if she hadn’t started out as a manicurist. (Though a good French tip never hurt!)
Want to see if your favorites made our cut? Click on the photo gallery below and find out. Then hit the comments underneath with any iconic characters that you feel like we had to have been crazier than Sheila Carter to omit.
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Image: John Paschal/JPI
1/25
<p>Somewhere, Bette Davis is gnashing her teeth over the fact that she never got to play Michael and Kevin’s mother — and Joan Van Ark is facepalming, having <em>abandoned</em> the role of the femme fatale whose sex appeal is second only to her wicked wit.</p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
2/25
<p>Rock on? Don’t mind if we do! Michael Damian’s character was exactly the sort of larger-than-life character that turned viewers of<em> The Young and the Restless</em> into <em>The Enraptured and Addicted.</em></p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
3/25
<p>Passion’s plaything. Daddy’s girl. Boss lady. Whatever you choose to call Victoria, from Heather Tom to Amelia Heinle, she’s always been front and center, a lightning rod for electric storylines.</p>
Image: CBS
4/25
<p>The antithesis of the character at No. 21, this manipulative monster enjoyed a reign of terror that didn’t end until he made the mistake — the hilariously <em>appropriate</em> mistake! — of trying to avoid his comeuppance by hiding in a garbage compactor and giving “trashed” a whole new meaning!</p>
Image: CBS
5/25
<p>What’s that, you say? Traci’s not exciting? Nothing happens to Traci? She doesn’t even have a love interest? Traci, friends, is <em>us</em>. Beth Maitland’s character is the voice of reason to which no one listens, the well-adjusted personality we should all aspire to be. Also, we couldn’t freaking adore her more.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
6/25
<p>Good and bad have no meaning, really, for Victor’s younger son. As a result, whether he’s been played by Michael Muhney, Justin Hartley or Mark Grossman, we’ve been riveted, poised on the fine line between rooting for and against the schemer.</p>
Image: CBS
7/25
<p>Is Christian Jules LeBlanc’s character the delusional sicko who once burrowed through Christine’s wall to attack her… or the devoted husband who’s earned Lauren’s devotion? He’s both, actually, which is what makes him so fascinating.</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
8/25
<p>Jane Austen only <em>wished</em> she’d ever dreamt up a heroine as compelling as Eileen Davidson’s Jabot chemist, a strong-willed protagonist whose luck in love should have convinced her to steer clear of Las Vegas for… frankly, ever!</p>
Image: Jophn Paschal/JPI
9/25
<p>Slap whatever label you want on Don Diamont’s pre-<em>The Bold and the Beautiful</em> character. Heartthrob. Himbo. Heel. You name it. We still hung on his every word — and assumed that the sometime lawn boy’s handling of shrubbery had rightly earned him his accolades as one of the world’s best… er, gardeners.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
10/25
<p>A dreamboat run ashore, Joshua Morrow’s on-screen persona is the hero in every romance novel… crossed with the mistake that every woman has ever warned a gal pal against making. Of note, no one has <em>ever</em> listened to the warnings. Also of note, yeah, we get it. Even now, we fall for Nick over and over again.</p>
Image: CBS
11/25
<p>A mean girl way before there even was such a thing, Tracey E. Bregman’s impetuous character hasn’t softened over the years so much as she’s grown, into a savvy businesswoman who, thankfully, has retained her sense of playfulness and mischief.</p>
Image: JPI Studios
12/25
<p>Whether on cold medicine or not, we couldn’t blame the character at No. 6 for enthusiastically “mistaking” Shemar Moore for her husband, Neil. For the duration of the Daytime Emmy winner’s run on the show — and even now, come to think of it — we’d have done/would do the same. Eagerly.</p>
Image: CBS
13/25
<p>For nearly a decade, Jaime Lyn Bauer put the “super” in “supervixen,” crafting a calculating character from whom you couldn’t look away… and <em>at</em> whom you all too often wanted to direct a backhand. She was, to put it mildly, something.</p>
Image: CBS
14/25
<p>The first in a long, long line of playboys on <em>The Young and the Restless</em>, this med student — most famously played by The Hoff — could have coined the term “playing doctor.” In addition, throughout the 1970s, he was the Rx for any and every storyline lull.</p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
15/25
<p><em>The Perils of Pauline</em> got nothin’ on <em>The Travails of Sharon</em>, a hard-luck heroine whose good fortune seemed to end with the discovery of the right actress to play the part (Sharon Case, on try No. 3). Since then, she’s been cheated on, divorced, assaulted, imprisoned, diagnosed as bipolar and taken too deeply into our hearts to ever be removed. (Also, don’t try.)</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
16/25
<p>The late Kristoff St. John’s alter ego was sometimes led by his zipper, it’s true. But in every other regard, he was our touchstone, our go-to. Neil was slighted time and again at the office — Victor, Victor, Victor! — yet in our minds, he’d long ago been promoted to the post of Character to Whom We Most Related. Now, sadly, he’s also among the Characters We Miss the Most.</p>
Image: Laurent Groult/JPI
17/25
<p>A hurricane in high heels, this pot-stirrer makes every scene more exciting simply by walking into it. Yes, there’s a price to pay — oy, the miles of carnage in her wake! But to paraphrase Jessica Rabbit, the infamous strumpet brought to life by Michelle Stafford isn’t bad, she’s just drawn that way. And whatever way she goes, so do we — helplessly!</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
18/25
<p>How ironic — and perfect — that the onetime manicurist would become infamous for her talons! The mercurial mantrap (played first by Brenda Dickson and longest by Jess Walton) sank her insatiable claws into one unsuspecting fella after another, in the process earning herself a reputation — since mellowed — as Genoa City’s resident queen of mean.</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
19/25
<p>There’s a good reason that everyone from Eric Braeden (Victor) to, um, the entire audience is always calling for Doug Davidson to get more screentime — and it ain’t just nostalgia: We all watched the Emmy winner grow up as Paul, a beach bum — emphasis on the “bum”! — who became the kind of do-right guy that any man would want to be and any woman would want to have.</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
20/25
<p>We know that Victoria Rowell’s history with <em>The Young and the Restless</em> is one that perhaps both she and the sudser would like to forget. But we just can’t. Her feisty character was the concentrate from which spitfires are made, the rare force of nature who could lay waste to a room without ever spilling a drop of champagne — unless she was throwing it in someone’s face!</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
21/25
<p>They broke the mold when they made “Evil Nurse Sheila” — and thank heavens they did! Kimberlin Brown’s baby-swapping man-stealer was so rotten to the core that she couldn’t be contained by one soap opera; nope, the lovelorn psycho crossed over to sister show <em>The Bold and the Beautiful</em> and wound up being killed off more often than nemesis Lauren Fenmore’s been married!</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
22/25
<p>The loverboy who’s worked so hard to fill father John’s shoes — as well as so many a lady’s bed! — may never best his rival at No. 2 on this list. Nonetheless, Peter Bergman’s alter ego (originally played by Terry Lester) remains a vital part of the Genoa City landscape, a natural born Casanova who has no equal. A doppelganger, yes — right, Marco? — but an equal? No.</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
23/25
<p>Melody Thomas Scott’s character practically defines the term “rags to riches”… except for the fact that when she caught the eye of the character at No. 2, the then-stripper from the wrong side of the tracks was wearing <em>less</em> than rags. We also can’t resist the fact that, while snobbish Nikki isn’t to the manor born, she certainly acts like she’s for the manor made.</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
24/25
<p>You know you’ve reached the status of icon when your mustache has a space reserved for it at the Smithsonian. Then again, you also have a pretty good hunch that you’re the stuff of legend when, as Eric Braeden’s womanizing character has (well, <em>should</em> have), you have a former-wives wing at the American Museum of Natural History that rivals Henry VIII’s.</p>
Image: CBS
25/25
