Tag: Interviews

  • Actor Nik Sanchez proves autism is no obstacle to success as he stars in new movie for Easterseals Disability Film Challenge

    Actor Nik Sanchez proves autism is no obstacle to success as he stars in new movie for Easterseals Disability Film Challenge

    Nik Sanchez has had a busy few years. The actor, who refers to himself as “awesomely autistic,” starred in a movie for Lifetime and an episode of the ABC series The Rookie. He also graduated high school with honors and started a bachelor’s degree.

    Recently Sanchez starred in a movie that will be featured in the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge. The competition, which is in its 10th year, showcases work by writers, actors, and crew members with disabilities.

    In “Safe Place,” Sanchez stars opposite Amber Patiño, who plays a young woman suffering from depression. Sanchez, whose character in the movie also has autism, is the one person she can rely on when her parents fighting and her urge to self-harm become too much to bear.

    Nik Sanchez

    Sanchez was diagnosed at a young age with autism and ADHD. His mother enrolled him in acting classes at the age of five because he enjoyed role-playing.

    “The instructor told me I wouldn’t do well because I had the attention span of a gnat,” Sanchez said.

    While accompanying his younger sister on a casting call, Nik was discovered by an agent. Soon after, he booked his first role as a recurring character on the ABC series The Rookie.

    The experience taught him a lot.

    “..I didn’t realize we’d have to do the scenes over and over and over again, because of the angles and the camera changes,” he said. “I gained a much higher respect for the actors.”

    Hallmark actress Holly Robinson Peete in the movie Our Christmas Journey (Image: Crown Media)

    Hallmark movie

    In 2021, Sanchez starred opposite Holly Robinson Peete and Lyriq Bent in the Hallmark movie Our Christmas Journey. He played the first character in a Hallmark movie to have autism.

    In an interview before the film premiered, he said he liked the script for Our Christmas Journey because it was an accurate portrayal of life with autism.

    “In real autistic families, everybody is affected,” he said. “Everybody plays a role and this movie really portrays that.”

    Easterseals Disability Film Challenge

    The Easterseals Disability Film Challenge was founded in 2013 by actor, comedian, producer, and disability advocate Nic Novicki in response to the under-representation of talent with disabilities both in front of and behind the camera.

    “I created the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge to help accelerate change within Hollywood and to provide filmmakers and actors with tangible work experience and with an opportunity to tell authentic stories. We are proud of the amazing films produced over the past 10 years—viewed around the world—and the successes our participants have gone on to achieve.”

    Since the Film Challenge was launched in 2013, aspiring filmmakers have created and submitted more than 500 short films (a record 95 last year) from nearly every state and from around the globe, including submissions from Austria, Canada, England, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Timor Leste, and The Netherlands.

    During the Film Challenge, registered filmmakers are given five days to write and produce short films (three-to-five minutes), based on the year’s announced genre. Submitted films are judged in six award categories: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Writer, Best Editor, and Best Awareness Campaign.

    Safe Place

    Sanchez was handpicked to star in Safe Place by the film’s writer, Jennifer Msumba. In an exclusive interview with TV Cheddar, Sanchez said he was impressed with not only her vision but also by the fact that she and the film’s director, Scott Klumb, were also on the autism spectrum.

    “It was really amazing for me to see other autistic adults living their lives and doing so well,” he said.

    Sanchez met his co-star, Amber Patiño, over a Zoom call. They hit it off immediately, he said.

    “She is a really good actress and an even better person,” he said.

    Taking part in the Film Challenge was an amazing experience, Sanchez said.

    “Especially after working on this project I would want people to know how capable we are of anything,” he said. “I also want to thank all the cast and crew for being so kind. It’s nice to not have to constantly think about my autism because I’m around people who don’t think my autism is a bad thing.
    I was just Nik, not the guy with autism.”

    Safe Place will premiere on Saturday, April 8 on the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge’s YouTube channel, which can be accessed here.

  • The Young and the Restless star Hunter King calls working with Hallmark a dream come true in exclusive interview with TV Cheddar

    The Young and the Restless star Hunter King calls working with Hallmark a dream come true in exclusive interview with TV Cheddar

    In an exclusive interview with TV Cheddar, The Young and the Restless star Hunter King talked about her latest movie for Hallmark Channel and how working with the network is a dream come true.

    “Hallmark movies have always been like an escape to me,” she said. “You can always count on them to make you smile and leave you feeling better than before you turned it on. I thought it would be cool to be able to make people feel the same way that I felt when I watched them.”

    The Professional Bridesmaid

    The Emmy Award-winning actress stars in the new romantic comedy The Professional Bridesmaid, which will premiere as part of Hallmark Channel’s Spring Into Love programming event.

    King plays Maggie Bailey, a woman who is so good at navigating the emotional and logistical hurdles of pulling off a wedding that she works as a professional bridesmaid.

    When the mayor hires her to work at his daughter’s high-profile wedding, Maggie takes on the challenge, knowing that she needs to keep her identity a secret. The whole situation becomes even more complicated when a handsome reporter (played by Chandler Massey) starts poking around looking for a scoop.

    Hunter King

    Hunter King got her start as a child actress. While starring on the Nickelodeon series Hollywood Heights, she was cast as Summer Newman on the soap opera The Young and The Restless.

    She was nominated for her first Emmy Award while she was still a tween. She took home the award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series in both 2014 and 2015. In an interview with Soap Opera Digest, she said she keeps one of the awards in her bathroom.

    “It’s just a good conversation starter when people come over and they’re like, ‘Wait, what? An Emmy’s in the bathroom?’” she said.

    Hunter King and Rhiannon Fish will star in the new Hallmark movie Nikki & Nora: Sister Sleuths
    Hunter King and Rhiannon Fish in Nikki & Nora: Sister Sleuths (Image: Hallmark Media)

    Working with Hallmark

    In addition to starring on The Young and The Restless, King appeared on the CBS series Life in Pieces. In 2022, she starred in the Hallmark Channel movies Hidden Gems and A Royal Corgi Christmas, as well as the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries film Nikki & Nora: Sister Sleuths.

    King said she has wanted to work for Hallmark since she was a child.

    “Growing up, I would drive past Hallmark’s headquarters nearly every day and dream about getting the chance to be in one of their movies some day,” she said.

    Interview with TV Cheddar

    TVC: The concept for this film — a woman working as a professional bridesmaid — is fantastic. What was your reaction when you first read the script?

    HK: I loved the script as soon as I read it. It’s such a cute story and the chemistry between the characters was there on the page already. I love romantic comedies and this film felt like one of those. Even just reading it I couldn’t wait to see what happened at the end!

    TVC: Though Maggie is a pro at what she does, the wedding she is planning is under a lot of scrutiny. The stakes get even higher when a reporter (played by Chandler Massey) starts digging into her identity. Are there any particular moments you think viewers will find funny or memorable?

    HK: Some really funny beats happen with the Mayor’s assistant Thomas. Thomas is very protective of the Mayor so he’s always on edge around Maggie, basically warning her not to screw this up. There were definitely a couple takes where I couldn’t keep a straight face in some of those scenes. A really memorable moment happens when Thomas looks to Maggie for help so that Henry (the reporter) doesn’t corner the mayor for an interview. The scene that follows is one of my favorites. Let’s just say…Chandler is a really good dancer.

    Hunter King (far right) in the new Hallmark movie The Professional Bridesmaid. (Image: Hallmark Media)
    Hunter King (far right) in the new Hallmark movie The Professional Bridesmaid. (Image: Hallmark Media)

    TVC: What was it like working with Chandler Massey?

    HK: I absolutely loved getting to work with Chandler Massey. He’s just such a sweet human and a true gentleman. Chandler was so much fun to work with and would always come back with the funniest responses during rehearsals. I really hope we get to work together again in the future.

    TVC: You once mentioned that growing up you would drive past Hallmark headquarters and dream about being in a Hallmark movie someday. What was it about Hallmark that appealed to you? What is it like to have that dream come true?

    HK: Hallmark movies have always been like an escape to me. You can always count on them to make you smile and leave you feeling better than before you turned it on. I thought it would be cool to be able to make people feel the same way that I felt as when I watched them. To be a part of the Hallmark family really does feel like a dream. Your job is to make people laugh, smile, and feel good. What’s not to love about that?

    Hunter King and Chandler Massey in The Professional Bridesmaid. (Image: Hallmark Media)
    Hunter King and Chandler Massey in The Professional Bridesmaid. (Image: Hallmark Media)

    TVC: Um, weird question, but do you still keep one of your Emmy awards in the bathroom?

    HK: I do! Most of my guests have seen it before so they’re used to it now, but occasionally guests will walk out with it. And the first thing people always say is “This is way heavier than I thought.”

    TVC: Finally, what do you hope viewers take away from The Professional Bridesmaid?

    HK: I hope people watching can feel how much fun we had making this movie. The crew and the cast were all so much fun to work with and I hope people can feel that from us. Also, I think the movie is a great reminder that beautiful things can happen with you’re able to be vulnerable.

    The Professional Bridesmaid will premiere on Hallmark Channel on Saturday, April 8 at 8/7c.

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  • Hallmark star reveals the magic behind-the-scenes of new series

    Hallmark star reveals the magic behind-the-scenes of new series

    The star of Hallmark’s new series The Way Home talked about the show’s appeal and revealed some of the magic that goes on behind the scenes. In an exclusive interview with TV Cheddar, newcomer Sadie Laflamme-Snow shared how exciting it has been to be a part of the first new series Hallmark Media has debuted since 2016.

    “What I’ve noticed is that there’s an interest coming from so many different generations of people,” Laflamme-Snow said. “…There’s something in this story for you. There’s something really fleshed out and complicated and something you can sink your teeth into no matter what generation you’re from and I think that’s really exciting for people.”

    New series

    Hallmark’s new series The Way Home premiered on January 15. More than 2.4 million viewers tuned in for the pilot episode of the series, which was written by mother-daughter team Heather Conkie and Alexandra Clarke. (The pair also collaborated on the CBC series Heartland.)

    Starring Andie MacDowell, Chyler Leigh, and Laflamme-Snow, the show follows three generations of women in one family who struggle to come to terms with painful events from their past.

    Laflamme-Snow said she was thrilled — and a little intimidated — when she found out she would be working with MacDowell and Leigh on the series. She said the actresses did their best to put her at ease and make her feel comfortable.

    “They have remained so warm and generous to someone who’s just getting started,” she said. “… I think one of the biggest takeaways for me is just that like you can be very, very accomplished and celebrated…and you can still give so much and be so generous.”

    Hallmark star Andie MacDowell and Sadie Laflamme-Snow in the new series The Way Home. (Image: Hallmark Media)
    Hallmark star Andie MacDowell and Sadie Laflamme-Snow in the new series The Way Home. (Image: Hallmark Media)

    Time travel

    In the show, Laflamme-Snow plays Alice, the youngest of the three Landry women. After her parents split up, Alice ends up moving with her mother, Kat (Chyler Leigh), from Minneapolis to the small town of Port Haven, New Brunswick to live with Alice’s grandmother, Del (Andie MacDowell). The relationship between Kat and Del is tense. Alice knows that her mother’s brother disappeared when he was a child and that her mother and grandmother haven’t spoken in years.

    While exploring the farm one day, Alice falls into a pond. When she comes to the surface, she finds out she has traveled through time to 1999, the year her uncle disappeared. She meets a teenage version of her mother (played by Alex Hook) and is introduced to her grandmother and her uncle.

    Once she realizes she can return to the present by going back into the pond, Alice regularly travels back to 1999 and tries to figure out the mystery behind her uncle’s disappearance.

    Behind the scenes

    The series was shot on location in Ontario. The time-traveling scenes involved a lot of jumping into a pond during the late summer and early fall months for Laflamme-Snow. In her interview with TV Cheddar, she revealed the tricks the film crew used to keep her warm.

    Sometimes she wore a wetsuit under her clothes. Other times she had to wrap herself in a foil blanket as soon as she climbed out of the water to help her warm up. And sometimes, her stunt doubles (she has more than one) would jump into the pond for her, though this was only when there wasn’t enough time for Laflamme-Snow to get dried off in between takes. The underwater sequences were filmed in a heated pool.

    A graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada’s acting program, Laflamme-Snow has appeared in the TV series Game On and the movies Love Triangle Nightmare and Sinister Switch.

    To watch the full interview, click here.

    The Way Home airs on Hallmark Channel on Sunday evenings. Check local listings for the exact time.

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  • Evan Williams: The Way Home is exactly the kind of show we need right now

    Evan Williams: The Way Home is exactly the kind of show we need right now

    The star of Hallmark’s new series The Way Home says the show is exactly what audiences need right now. In an exclusive interview with TV Cheddar, Evan Williams said that when he first read the script for the series, he was struck by how timely it was.

    “We’re coming out of a couple of years of real pressure and trauma,” Evans told TV Cheddar in an interview that can be viewed here. “There’s nothing that’s going to traumatize you in our show…but at the same time that doesn’t mean that we can’t have stakes and we can’t have compelling storytelling.”

    The Way Home

    Hallmark’s new series premiered on January 15 to an audience of 2.4 million viewers. Starring Andie MacDowell, Chyler Leigh, and newcomer Sadie Laflamme-Snow, the show follows three generations of women in one family who struggle to come to terms with painful events from their past.

    The series was written by Heather Conkie and Alexandra Clarke, a mother-daughter team who have written for Disney and collaborated on the CBC series Heartland.

    Elliot Augustine

    In the show, Evan Williams plays Elliot Augustine, a friend of Kat Landry (Leigh), who returns to her small hometown following a split with her husband. Elliot is a teacher at the local high school, and it soon becomes clear he knows more about the Landry family than they know about each other.

    When Kat’s teenage daughter, Alice, falls into a pond on the family’s farm, she is able to travel back in time to 1999. Not only does she get to meet her mother when she was a teenager, but she also gets to see what her grandmother was like before a tragedy changed her life forever.

    Evan Williams and Andie MacDowell in the new Hallmark series The Way Home. (Image: Hallmark Media)
    Evan Williams and Andie MacDowell in the new Hallmark series The Way Home. (Image: Hallmark Media)

    Williams, who has starred in films and TV shows in Canada and the U.S., said he was intrigued by the character when he read the script.

    “That was what really attracted me to this role,” he said, “was getting to be the outsider who is trying to make his way to the inside and he doesn’t have an agenda, he’s not a Machiavellian character, he’s a true-hearted person and he wants to love and he wants to actualize his life.”

    About Evan Williams

    Evan Williams is a native of Alberta, Canada. He earned his theater degree from Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University).

    From 2015 to 2018 he starred in the TV series Versailles and in 2019 he appeared on Fuller House (the reboot of Full House). He has had roles in the movies Blonde, Midnight at the Magnolia, Escape Room, and Paradise Club.

    For the full interview, click here.

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  • Janel Parrish calls Hallmark’s new mystery high stakes and exciting

    Janel Parrish calls Hallmark’s new mystery high stakes and exciting

    In an exclusive interview with TV Cheddar, actress and singer Janel Parrish called Hallmark’s new mystery high stakes and exciting.

    “You meet and fall in love with these characters, and when one of them is in trouble and there’s a ticking clock, you can’t stop watching unless you know it’s all going to be okay,” she said.

    Family History Mysteries: Buried Past is a brand new mystery that stars Parrish and her fellow Hallmark veteran Niall Matter. The movie features a twist on the typical “whodunit” formula employed by most cozy mysteries. Instead of trying to solve a murder, Parrish’s character, genealogist Sophie McClaren, must keep a man from dying by tracking down his biological father. The result is a race-against-the-clock thriller with filled with suspense and surprises.

    Janel Parrish in Hallmark’s new mystery

    A native of Hawaii, Parrish became enamored with musical theater at the age of 6 after seeing a production of The Phantom of the Opera at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu. She started piano, singing, and dancing lessons and was soon a regular on the talent show circuit.

    Within two years she had booked the role of Young Cosette in the National Touring Company production of Les Misérables, a role she also played at the Imperial Theatre on Broadway.

    In 1999 she booked her first television role on the series Baywatch. She starred in several movies for the Disney Channel and in the Nickelodeon series Zoey 101 before being cast as Mona Vanderwaal in the show Pretty Little Liars. In 2007, she was signed to Geffen Records and produced her first solo album.

    Niall Matter and Janel Parrish in Hallmark's new mystery Family History Mysteries: Buried Past. (Image: Hallmark Media)
    Niall Matter and Janel Parrish in Hallmark’s new mystery Family History Mysteries: Buried Past. (Image: Hallmark Media)

    Hallmark Connection

    Parrish made her Hallmark debut in the 2020 Christmas drama Holly & Ivy. In an interview to promote the movie, she said her mother was thrilled that she was working with Hallmark.

    “My mom is Hallmark Christmas movies’ No. 1 fan,” she told Entertainment Tonight. “It’s on all day, every day, no matter what we’re doing. She’d always ask me, ‘When are you going to do one?’ I’d said, ‘Whenever they call me, I will do one.’ So she’s over the moon about me doing this movie.”

    She also starred in the 2021 Countdown to Christmas movie Coyote Christmas alongside Ryan Paevey.

    Exclusive interview

    In a recent interview with TV Cheddar (woot woot!), Parrish talked about her new movie, her love of musical theater, and her fascinating hobby: aerial silks.

    TVC: Family History Mysteries puts an interesting twist on the typical Hallmark mystery: Instead of solving a murder, your character, Sophie McClaren, is trying to prevent a man’s death. How does this add to the suspense in the story?

    JP: Yes! I think it ups the stakes. You meet and fall in love with these characters, and when one of them is in trouble and there’s a ticking clock, you can’t stop watching unless you know it’s all going to be okay. I love that this film is so character and relationship driven. This one is so heartfelt and I think ultimately that’s what’s gonna keep the audiences on the edge of their seat.

    TVC: What drew you to the character of Sophie? What do you think audiences will like about her?

    JP: Sophie is BRILLIANT. She thinks outside of the box and trusts her instincts…she never takes no for an answer which makes her very endearing. She loves fiercely and would do anything for the people she loves. I also think fans will love her own personal mystery of where she came from and will love going on that self-discovery journey with her.

    TVC: You mentioned in a previous interview that your mother is a big Hallmark fan. What do you think makes Hallmark movies so appealing to audiences?

    JP: Hallmark never lets you down. With Hallmark, you know you’ll always get a feel-good ending with characters you’ll fall in love with. But it’s true…no one is a bigger Hallmarkie than my mom!

    TVC: Completely off-topic but you have a really cool hobby: aerial silks. How did you get started? What do you like about it?

    JP: Yes! After Dancing With The Stars, I needed a fun way to keep moving. I fell in love with the art of it, and then realized what an amazing core and upper body workout it is! Now it’s like my church…it feels like meditating and is so calming and a wonderful outlet for me.

    TVC: You got your start in musical theater. Any plans to do any live theater in the near future?

    JP: Yes, I’ll forever be a broadway baby! I love returning to the stage whenever I can! I may have something fun in the pipeline…stay tuned! 😉

    Family History Mysteries: Buried Past will premiere on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries on Sunday, January 8 at 7/6c.