Joshua Morrow Looks Back at 25 Years on THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS (EXCLUSIVE)

Having three little sisters, Morrow said it was easy to connect with Camryn Grimes (Mariah) during her run as Cassie. "She was just an absolute ray of sunshine — I just loved her from the first day!" he exclaimed. "She'd jump into my arms, and tell me about her weekend, usually about her dog or what she was going to be for Halloween. Life back then was so simple. She was just an amazing, extraordinarily caring and talented young lady. She is a grown woman now, but in my eyes, she will always be my freckle-faced angel!"

While fans cheered when Nick and Sharon walked down the aisle for the first time, Morrow remembers the performance of Melody Thomas Scott (Nikki) the best. "You can tell by this picture that Nikki loathed Sharon!" he laughed. "For all the beauty, romance and drama in that wedding, hands down the single best performance was Mel! Every time they cut to her, she just had the most amazing [expression], oozing disdain for what was happening, while trying to put on a happy face for her son. She was the scene stealer of all scene stealers that day!"

For 25 years, Nick and Sharon have enthralled audiences. "It's that concept of young love, being star-crossed lovers — that's powerful," suggested the actor. "Some of the most beautiful scenes I have ever done, have been with Sharon Case. And not in a big, splashy storyline, but in real, sensitive, tender little moments. Nick fought his entire family to be able to have this woman in his life. They have hurt each other horribly over the years. But at the end of the day, they will always love each other."

Morrow, here with Eric Braeden (Victor) and Heather Tom (ex-Victoria; now Katie, THE BOLD & THE BEAUTIFUL), said that he had no idea when he won the role of Nick that he would be part of the powerful Newman family. "I had just come from narrowly missing out on playing Dylan on B&B. I was heartbroken. That was a real opportunity to make a living in this business. A week later, my manager called me... to read for Nick Newman. I could have been reading for the part of a bartender for all I knew. But the first time I met Eric, I was like, 'Okay, this is something!' It's an incredible honor to be part of that family. Heather Tom was like my sister. If I hadn't been cast as Nick, I'm pretty sure I would be jealous of the dude playing him!"

"This picture embodies the beginning of this career I was able to carve out," Morrow reflected fondly. "I've taken a million of them, but to see this one makes me chuckle because I'm sure I was 19, without a care in the world. Then [Y&R's co-creator, the late William J.] Bell and [ex-executive producer] Ed Scott chose me to play Nick Newman. It was an incredible honor and one hell of a ride!"

"Jennifer Gareis (ex-Grace; now Donna, B&B) came in as the most sexy, calculating woman. There wasn't anything evil about Grace, but she would sashay into a room, and Nick's eyes would be like a cartoon character's shooting out of his head!" laughed Morrow. "That's a true testament to Jennifer — she played it perfectly. Here you have Nick's first love, the wholesome, tender Sharon, and then this vixen who comes into Nick's life and teases him! I caught grief from the pro-Sharon fans, but it was worth it. It was an awesome story!"

"Eddie [Cibrian, ex-Matt] and I became instant best friends, We would go out and have beers every night until late, then golf every morning at 5 or 5:30 a.m., then roll into work," chuckled the soap vet. "We lived on four hours of sleep. It was a great period of my life!"

Morrow still laughs about how he asked Scott her age when he first met her, and she urged him to guess. "I guessed right! She was like, 'Oh. That is how old I am.' There was an awkward silence, but she left me off the hook!"

"My grandmother — God bless her — is 95," said Morrow, "and her project every year is to put into a photo album all the press I've done throughout the year and give it to me for Christmas. She loves it!"

"I love [Michael Graziadei, ex-Daniel] like a little brother. It was not easy when Nick had to hate Daniel!" smiled Morrow. "My favorite part of this story — other than that it was the beginning of Nick and Phyllis' relationship — was that Kristoff [St.John, Neil] was there that day as well. My favorite memory was me, Kristoff, Michelle [Stafford, Phyllis], Michael and Christel Khalil (Lily) running on the beach in Malibu. It was a great, beautiful day!"

Morrow loves the sibling bond between Nick and Victoria. "No matter what is going on in their lives, they are the first person they run to. They have each other's backs, and I find that incredibly special. A large part of that is Amelia [Heinle]," he insisted. "I love her with all my heart. I always tell her that I will slay dragons for her. If I ever run into an actual dragon, I will slay it to protect her!"

Even though Morrow can't remember which time this was when Nick and Sharon fell back in love, he won't forget that the storyline took place in one of the most beautiful cities in the world — Paris! "It was magical," he reflected. "It was definitely one of the top five moments in my career. Maybe the top two! If you would have told me when I was playing football in 100-degree heat in Oklahoma that I would someday be in Paris telling a beautiful love story with a beautiful blonde, I would have said you were crazy!"

"I'm a very physical dude. I love playing sports, moving around, competing. I would have loved to have been some kind of action hero!" Morrow enthused. "So when you get these very rare opportunities on our show to do action scenes, to me it's Disneyland!"

Morrow said Nick and Phyllis' relationship was shocking and dynamic. "I'll never forget that Michelle and I had a scene where we locked eyes. It was supposed to be about hate, but it became about something else. The triangle with Sharon, Nick and Phyllis was one of my favorite storylines ever told,  and I think it really set the character of Nick into manhood. When you put people like Sharon Case and Michelle Stafford in a story together, it just exploded! You ticked off the Shick people, but created a new posse of Phick people!"

Being part of the Clear Springs disaster was "the coolest thing that we've ever done in my time on the show," said Morrow, here with Peter Bergman (Jack). "We rented out a completely different studio, and our set designers built the most insane collapsed structure that you've ever seen. The story involved about 10 different people, which meant they had to create 10 different disaster areas for these characters to fight their way out of to survive. It was hard work, and I left there bloody and scraped... but, man it was exciting!"

"I've known Steve [Burton, ex-Dylan; now GENERAL HOSPITAL's Jason] for many years. We actually dated girls who were best friends, so we had a couple of years when we did everything together! I have never met anyone in my life who is always thinking of new ways to be  successful! He's super-driven and really sharp about business and money. When he joined the show, we became even closer," he said of his former TV half brother. "And Jessica [Collins,ex-Avery]... I call her Jessica Rabbit. She was this sexy, smart bombshell. She didn't take herself too seriously. I miss her so much! I loved Nick being with Avery. She is talented as she is beautiful!"

"Kristoff was one of my longest friends on the show," said Morrow quietly. "He took me under his wing when I got there. I love him, and I miss him. As far as the basketball scene goes... I was about four months out of major knee surgery, and Kristoff was five months. We both literally read the script and were like, 'Oh my gosh, can we do this?' So we decided to play at half speed. But as soon as we started shooting, we became competitive! That scene sums up Nick and Neil perfectly. And I got to play basketball with one of my best friends!"

"She's my bestie!" Morrow said of Melissa Claire Egan (Chelsea). "She drags me out of my dressing room, and makes me go have lunch with her! For years, I was jealous that I didn't get to work with her. I've always loved the idea of two brothers loving the same woman. Melissa is a tremendous talent, and the nicest human being! I was so excited to hear that she's coming back" to the show.

Morrow said that he always loves getting out of the studio to do location shoots, like this one with Case at Underwood Farms, north of Los Angeles. "I call my work 'The Cave'," he grinned. "[Wife] Tobe will be like,'Oh my gosh, did you see the rain?' I'm like, 'I haven't seen the weather in 14 hours!' When you go outside on location, it causes different [production] problems, but it's amazing to have moments like that!"