Sharon Case

 ( 1971 Births ) 

In 2005, Case appeared in an independent film entitled Carpool Guy with The Young and the Restless co-star Lauralee Bell. Also that year, she starred in the short film Wentworth. The film was about a man named Wentworth who had to choose between the women of his dream, Emily, and the "perfect" woman in his dreams, "Dream" Emily, both played by Case. It was directed by Steve Suettinger, and produced independently by students at the University of Southern California.

In 2007, Case starred with Debra Hopkins in her second short film, Repressions, which ran for 24 minutes. Produced by Roundhay Garden films and directed by Adam Kargman, it was filmed from May 14 to July 16, 2006. In the film, Janie (Case) is being tricked by her therapist into believing she has repressed memories of sexual child abuse. The film was met with critical acclaim from independent movie reviewers who found her performance "mesmerizing" and "stunning". Oscar Awards nominee Jesse Friedman heavily praised the film, and encouraged people to watch it. In 2009, Case appeared on an episode of the sex comedy web series Poor Paul which was created by former The Young and the Restless co-star Kevin Schmidt. In June 2010, Case starred opposite David James Elliott in the romantic comedy Dad's Home for the Hallmark Channel.

Since 2011, the character's storylines have been met with controversy and negative feedback. Case herself has stated that she has been unhappy with the character being paired with "too many men" because it "waters" the storyline down. A storyline in which she let her children believe she was dead was heavily frowned upon by Yahoo!. The show's cast and viewers were appalled when Sharon was romantically paired with her former father-in-law who she had grown to have a father-daughter relationship with, Victor Newman (Eric Braeden). The storyline was considered an "inside joke" by cast members. Case was unhappy with the romance she considered almost "", stating: "Sometimes controversial storylines can work because you're bringing attention to a controversial issue that the nation is trying to decide on. But this was not one of those things. Everybody is universally against incest! It was just so upsetting to the audience."

The show's former head writer and executive producer Maria Arena Bell has been highly criticized for the "destruction" of Sharon. Jillian Bowe, a writer of the website Zap2It said that the character was "beloved" but Bell had "assassinated" her "via one ill-conceived storyline and/or romance after another." Tommy Garrett of Canyon News praised Case, and wrote that: "Maria Bell knows that consummate actress Sharon Case plays the consummate heroine Sharon Newman with aplomb." Garret also has described Case's performance as "flawless" playing a "role of a lifetime and giving the performance of a lifetime." Case has received several awards for her work on The Young and the Restless. Canyon News suggested that her performance needed more Emmy attention. The character has tackled issues such as infidelity and rape, and in recent years, mental health social issues like kleptomania and most notably bipolar disorder. Case continues to play Sharon today.