Hallmark For All Seasons

Two weekends ago I had the pleasure of attending “Christmas Con” in Edison, NJ.  It was a wonderful weekend filled with all things Hallmark – including several stars of our favorite movies.  There are only a handful of actresses for Hallmark that I will make a point of watching.  I’ve talked about them regularly on this blog.  At Christmas Con, on the first night, there was only one person I HAD to meet: the lovely and vivacious Ashley Williams, who is starring in this weekend’s “Holiday Hearts”.

I have loved her and followed her career for several years, and she is always delightful whether she’s playing the crazy girlfriend in 2011’s “Something Borrowed,” the should-have-been-the-Mother, Victoria, on TV’s “How I Met Your Mother” or our beloved Allie in Hallmark’s 2017 movie, “Christmas in Evergreen.”

I patiently waited in line, watching her smile and laugh and chat with all the fans lining up to meet her that night.  Finally I reached the front of the line and she greeted me with a huge smile and a hug. She was warm and friendly, content to chat and share stories. I told her about the theory that you can trust people that smile with their whole face, that she does that in all her movies and makes us fall in love with her characters.  She got a kick out of that, and told me that her sister (actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley) told her that she smiles like a crazy person.  I assured her that her smiles bring us into her world and that it makes us feel connected to her characters and to her.

We chatted a few minutes more, and I mentioned my blog here.  It was during this part of the conversation that she agreed to be interviewed before “Holiday Hearts” aired!  I was thrilled, and so excited when we were able to connect after the convention was over.  Y’all – she truly IS as delightful as she seems.  Without further ado, here is my short interview with Ashley Williams – had I more time I’d have asked her a dozen more questions!

***    ***    ***

Jane: Let me start off by saying that I am a huge fan and have followed your work for a long time, so thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. I loved you on “How I Met Your Mother,” and you were a hilarious highlight in “Something Borrowed.” Add in “The Jim Gaffigan Show” (which I LOVED) and your Hallmark movies – it’s clear that you have been able to find really creative, fun projects throughout your career. What inspired you to become an actor and what role led you to decide to pursue it as a full-time career?

Ashley: We had a next door neighbor growing up named Anna Holbrook– she was on Another World and she was my hero. All I wanted was to be her! She got my sister, Kimberly williams Paisley an agent and she booked a commercial for the National Dairy Association. My sister made more money in that one day than my parents had in years of hard work. My mom said “All three of you are getting headshots and doing this.” We were thrilled.

I loved Another World when I was a kid – how to have her as your neighbor!  Now, you’ve done everything from romance to comedy – is there a type of role that you haven’t played yet that you hope to get a callback for one day?

I fell in love with Shakespeare in college and have yet to have done a play professionally. It’s fun that as I get older I can now believably play some of these amazing female Shakespearean roles. Honestly? I would nail Lady Macbeth!

I believe your first Hallmark movie was 2015’s “October Kiss” which is widely considered a fan favorite. How did Hallmark come into your life? Was it an audition process or did they contact you and say, “We have a project we’d like to discuss with you?”

I was offered “October Kiss” shortly after giving birth to my first son. I was easing back into the work force and the script was sweet and there were only 11 shooting days. My husband said “Let’s go to Vancouver and just do this. Together.” We had a great time!

Now that you’ve done several movies for them including one of their most popular, “Christmas in Evergreen,” do they just send you a script specifically for you to star in?

Hallmark is so brilliant at producing a massive amount of content all year round, but the process of green light of a script to day one of shooting is honestly usually a bit slap dash. I got the offer for “Evergreen” on a Friday night, I think after a few people had fallen out for some reason. I was on a plane, with my three month old, headed to Canada less than 24 hours later. I read the script the night before we started shooting! I was relieved I liked it!

I’m so excited for your next movie, “Holiday Hearts,” with you and Paul Campbell, which comes out November 23 on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. What can you tell us about the movie, and your character?

This movie is so cute! My character is a burgeoning event planner and she’s been assigned with throwing the big holiday party for the town. Unfortunately, a close friend also needs help taking care of his daughter at the same time. Ben (Paul!) and I send up having to take care of her together in the weeks leading up to christmas doing all the traditional holiday activities: cookie decorating, ice skating, crafts, etc. We all end up really connecting.

Those are all of my favorite Hallmark tropes – it sounds like I’m really going to enjoy it. Was working with Paul Campbell as hilarious as I imagine, given that you two clearly have great sense of humor as evidenced on your Twitter and Insta accounts?

I love Paul Campbell! He made me laugh SO HARD all through the shooting of this movie. Also, we have kids the same age and his condo has SERIOUS toys that my kids came over over the weekend and destroyed. At one point my son and his were jumping up and down in his bed, their feet in his pillows, and I was like: “Sorry, Paul!” He was a very good sport!

Hallmark has started letting their actors step out with their other talents. Do you have any interest in directing, producing or writing for them on a future project?

I’ve produced a movie for Hallmark, called “Love on a Limb,” a few years ago! It was awesome— an amazing experience. I have several other projects in development with Hallmark, but since then I’ve also started directing and am absolutely invigorated by this learning process. My favorite parts of my career are the times when I feel like I’m continuing my education. Directing is the ultimate challenge.

I just re-watched “Love on a Limb” a few weeks ago – you were great, as always. What’s up next for you? Any non-Hallmark projects we need to keep an eye out for?

I have a small cameo in the latest in the “Evergreen” trilogy! Other than that, I wrote and directed a short film called “Meats” that I’m currently submitting to festivals. I hope people get to see it soon!

I have some “lightning round” questions for you.  What’s your favorite Christmas movie (non-Hallmark)?

Elf!

Ooh…that’s one of my faves, too!  What’s your favorite pizza topping?

No cheese, just the sauce.

Last one – what is your favorite “guilty pleasure” tv show?

I love “Queer Eye!”

Thank you so much, Ashley – I’d love to do this again in the future! 

THANK YOU!  What fun, let’s do it again!

***    ***    ***

And there you have it.  Ashley Williams, in those few minutes, easily cemented a place in my heart as one of my all-time favorite Hallmark leading ladies.  If you want to find her on social media, she is on both Instagram and Twitter as “imthesmash”.

Preview of “Holiday Hearts”

“Holiday Hearts” airs this Saturday night at 9 p.m. ET on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Channel.  In a weekend of strong new Hallmark Christmas movies, this is the one I’m most excited about seeing. The movie is an adaptation of “The Christmas Wish” by Barbara Ankrum (which has since been renamed “Holiday Hearts”).

Here’s  a fun behind the scenes preview clip of what we can expect:

 

As I said, I cannot wait to see this movie.  And now that you’ve read a little bit from my conversation with Ashley, I highly recommend you also pop over to the Deck the Hallmark podcast website and listen to her amazing and hilarious interview with Bran, Panda and Dan.  A funny bit of trivia – she went directly from our interview into recording the podcast with the fellas (I know this because within a few minutes of her and I concluding, my phone dinged to say that the boys were live on Facebook – when I popped over to see what they were doing, there she was!  And proof that they are much more practiced interviewers than me, it is a fun, fun interview that any Ashley Williams fan needs to listen to!

What do you think?  Are you excited about “Holiday Hearts?”

Check out this preview of #HolidayHearts starring @imthesmash and @ThePaulCampbell #hallmarkies @hallmarkmovie #miraclesofchristmas Share on X