2025 was a year of shocking returns and major losses in Port Charles, and only our GH Performer of the Year Jane Elliot could make us feel every one of Tracy’s strong emotions, because this was not just another nostalgic victory lap for a legacy character but a masterclass in emotional storytelling that reminded viewers why Tracy Quartermaine has endured for decades as one of the most complex, sharp-edged, and deeply human figures in daytime television, and throughout the year Jane Elliot delivered performances that cut through plot twists and spectacle, grounding every shocking return and devastating loss in raw, believable feeling that resonated long after the episode ended, as Tracy navigated a Port Charles that felt both familiar and unrecognizable, haunted by ghosts of the past while being forced to confront a future she never planned to face alone, and when beloved faces returned unexpectedly, Elliot infused Tracy with a brittle mix of sarcasm and vulnerability, letting viewers see the cracks beneath her armor as memories resurfaced, some comforting, others unbearably painful, and each reunion carried emotional weight not because of melodrama but because Tracy remembered everything, every betrayal, every fleeting moment of love, every opportunity missed, and Jane Elliot made sure we felt that history in every glance, every pause, every carefully delivered line, and when the losses came, and they came hard in 2025, Tracy did not grieve loudly or neatly, instead Elliot portrayed grief as something corrosive and lingering, something that sharpened Tracy’s tongue even as it hollowed out her heart, especially in scenes where Tracy was left standing in familiar rooms that suddenly felt too quiet, too empty, the absence of loved ones echoing louder than any argument ever had, and what made Jane Elliot’s performance so extraordinary was her refusal to simplify Tracy’s pain, because Tracy is not a character who cries on cue or begs for sympathy, she deflects, she lashes out, she intellectualizes, and yet in 2025 Elliot allowed fleeting moments where the defenses slipped, where a tremor in her voice or a haunted look in her eyes revealed just how deeply the losses had cut, and those moments were devastating precisely because they were restrained, because they trusted the audience to understand the weight Tracy was carrying without being told how to feel, and as Port Charles reeled from major deaths that reshaped families and alliances, Tracy became an emotional barometer for the show, reacting not just to who was gone but to what their absence meant for the Quartermaine legacy, for the idea of family itself, and Jane Elliot played those layers with surgical precision, showing Tracy wrestling with the fear that she might be the last one standing, the keeper of memories no one else wanted to carry, and when shocking returns upended the status quo, Elliot leaned into Tracy’s skepticism and guarded hope, portraying a woman who desperately wanted to believe in second chances but had been hurt too many times to embrace them easily, and those scenes crackled with tension as Tracy tested the sincerity of those who came back from the dead or returned from exile, her sharp wit masking a fragile question at the core of it all, whether anything in Port Charles could truly be permanent, whether love could survive the constant cycle of loss and resurrection, and in one of the most emotionally powerful stretches of the year Tracy was forced to confront her own mortality, not through illness or danger but through isolation, through the realization that the world keeps moving even as pieces of her heart are chipped away, and Jane Elliot’s performance in those moments was quietly shattering, capturing the exhaustion of a woman who has fought her entire life and is suddenly wondering what all that fighting was for, and yet what ultimately made her 2025 performance so deserving of Performer of the Year was how Elliot balanced that sorrow with Tracy’s enduring strength, because Tracy did not break, she adapted, she recalibrated, she found new ways to assert control in a world that kept taking from her, and Elliot made that resilience feel earned rather than sentimental, portraying Tracy’s sharp humor as both a weapon and a lifeline, something that kept her standing even when grief threatened to pull her under, and in scenes with younger characters Jane Elliot subtly shifted Tracy into an unexpected role, not softened exactly, but seasoned, offering hard-earned wisdom without sacrificing the character’s edge, as if Tracy understood that legacy is not just about inheritance or power but about what you leave behind emotionally, and through it all, whether Tracy was delivering a biting one-liner, confronting an old enemy, or sitting alone with her thoughts, Jane Elliot commanded the screen with a presence that reminded viewers why experience matters, why depth matters, and why soap operas at their best are about emotional truth rather than shock alone, and as 2025 closed with Port Charles forever changed by returns that reopened old wounds and losses that could never be undone, it was Tracy’s emotional journey that anchored the chaos, giving viewers a throughline of authenticity amid the twists, and Jane Elliot’s performance ensured that every heartbreak landed, every memory mattered, and every moment felt real, proving once again that while characters may come and go, true performers leave an indelible mark, and in a year defined by shock and sorrow, Jane Elliot made us feel it all, fiercely, honestly, and without compromise.