The Amazon Prime Digital Drama Series “After Forever” recently took home five Daytime Emmy Awards.

Jamestown native Mitchell Anderson was a part of the project from the beginning. Anderson was nominated for an Emmy for his role as Jason Addams. Although Anderson did not win for his role, his friend and co-star Kevin Spirtas won for best actor.

“The show won five awards, Anderson said. “We were nominated for eight in six different categories, so we pretty much swept the categories in which we were nominated. I was nominated alongside my co-star, Kevin Spirtas for best actor. He rightly took home the Emmy since it really is his story. He was very gracious in his acceptance and brought me on stage to share the award with me. It was a team effort, but only one of us could win. The other wins were for Erin Cherry, Best Supporting Actress in Digital Series, Best Writing, Best Directing and, of course Best Digital Series.”

Anderson, 57 is best known for his TV roles in “Doogie Howser, MD” and “Party of Five,” Richard Carpenter in “The Karen Carpenter Story,” and on film, “Relax, It’s Just Sex.”

The cast and crew of “After Forever” pose in the press room with the award for outstanding digital drama series at the 46th annual Daytime Emmy Awards at the Pasadena Civic Center on Sunday, May 5, in Pasadena, Calif. Mitchell Anderson, a Jamestown native, is pictured sixth from the left. AP photo

Because Anderson had taken a break from acting for about 15 years, there wasn’t any pressure to step back in front of the camera. He said he did for the pure joy of it.

“It was incredible to win. Really, just to be nominated. It didn’t even occur to me when we shot in the spring of 2017 that this was even possible. It was great to be invited to the Emmys — something that in all my years of acting professionally, I never was. And to be part of an Emmy winning series is spectacular,” he said.

Anderson, who owns MetroFresh, metrofreshatl.com, a restaurant in Atlanta, said the part was an opportunity to step out from himself, and the series was shot in New York City for about 15 or 16 days in a townhouse on the Upper East Side.

Anderson was raised in Jamestown, one of six children. He is a 1979 graduate of Jamestown High School. He attended Williams College, and The Julliard School of Music. His restaurant, is “Fresh Food, Fast,” and specializes in prepared gourmet soups, salads, side dishes, sandwiches and breakfasts. “We use the freshest in-season ingredients, locally grown when possible, to create a menu of interesting, unusual, globally-inspired flavor combinations,” the website’s home page said.

Anderson said that now the series has won five awards, he hopes more people will view it. “I believe in the show so much and really just want people to find it. I know our producers and agent will now work harder to hopefully find a streaming platform to help produce the show. But regardless they’ve told me we’re aiming to shoot the second season sometime this fall for release in 2020.

The Advocate Magazine held the series in high praise. “Loss is a topic seldom told through a queer lens, but when crafted and executed honestly, it has the power to embolden our perspectives on each other — as well as ourselves. After all, love is humanity’s greatest story, and it’s beautifully expressed in the first season of ‘After Forever,’ an eight-episode series streaming on Amazon. The show, co-created by Emmy-nominated TV writer and playwright Michael Slade and actor-writer Spirtas (‘Days of Our Lives’), was nominated for 10 International Academy of Web Television Awards — and won one for best female performance in a drama series (Cady Huffman). The show stars Spirtas as Brian, and Anderson (‘Doogie Howser,’ ‘Party of Five’) as Jason, a ’50-ish’ gay couple living in New York City who appear to have it all — until Jason’s untimely death forces Brian to think about his own future and ultimately his own mortality, without the love of his life.”

Although Anderson has not seen the storyline, he said the series focuses more on Jason and Brian’s relationship.

“In the first season the bits of their time together that were shown were somewhat idealized, because just after loss I think that’s what you remember most – the good times. In the second season, I think we’ll see more of Jason’s flaws and that maybe the relationship, like most relationships, was challenging. That’s pretty much all I know.”most relationships, was challenging. That’s pretty much all I know.”