She may be a good witch now, but which Hallmark star stripped down to double
for a '90s movie socialite with less than good
intentions? There’s way more to these actors than lighthearted holiday fare.
After spending nearly a decade acting in Hallmark movies, Luke Macfarlane starred alongside Billy
Eichner in "Bros," an LGBTQ+ rom-com released in September 2022 by Universal Pictures. "Bros" has
some differences from Macfarlane's prior Hallmark movies — one of them being that,
in "Bros," Macfarlane has the opportunity to play a character a little more similar
to who he is in real life. In many of his Hallmark movies,
Macfarlane plays a straight man, usually with a female love interest. In "Bros," Macfarlane,
who publicly came out as gay in 2008, plays Billy Eichner's love interest, Aaron.
As he ventured onto the big screen,
he appreciated how much he learned from Hallmark, telling the Los Angeles Times,
"One thing that I really enjoyed about making Hallmark movies is it's really
fun to flirt. It's fun to play that energy on camera, where relationships are at their best
in those early times. I guess Hallmark has given me a lot of flirting lessons."
It's safe to say that Autumn Reeser has had an extensive acting career — in addition to
her many Hallmark movies, Reeser acted on popular shows like "The O.C." and
"Entourage." Some may be surprised to find out that someone with such a
successful acting career went into things head-first, without a lot of preparation.
Reeser was in theater productions from a young age, but she didn't really begin her
acting career until age 20. However, things took off quickly. She told Career Contessa,
"By 22, I was able to support myself entirely on my acting career."
This sort of early success is not necessarily common among famous actors. For some,
it can take a lot of failed attempts before their career really takes off,
and it's understandable that many people don't have the patience to
keep waiting for that big break. Reeser recognizes this, saying,
"I'm glad that I was fairly naïve at the beginning of my career. Otherwise
I'm not sure I would have had the courage to try to start a career as an actress!"
Fortunately for Reeser, her acting career has been a major success.
"Perfect. Then we've done our job!"
Taylor Cole, who starred in the Hallmark movies "Christmas in Homestead," "The Art of Us," and
"Falling For You," among others, has had some fairytale romances on and off the screen. Cole
actually met her husband, producer Cameron Larson, on the set of a Hallmark movie. Could it get any
cuter and more Hallmark than that? Not only did they meet on a movie set but, according to People,
Cole and her husband's love story actually unfolded in a way that was similar to the
plot of "Matching Hearts," which Larson happened to be filming as they planned their wedding.
"Matching Hearts" focuses on a matchmaker who ends up finding her own perfect match
in one of her clients. Before Cole and Larson began dating,
they played matchmaker for each other. Cole told People,
"We were friends for several years before dating and I even tried playing matchmaker with Cam,
attempting to set him up with a few friends of mine. Luckily, similar to the movie,
none of the matches worked and we both realized we were perfect for each other."
Whether their love story was coincidence or fate,
the two lovebirds officially tied the knot in 2020 and are going strong.
Brennan Elliott has starred in dozens of Hallmark movies as well as the Hallmark original series,
"Cedar Cove." While his career is going well, he,
unfortunately, has faced some major challenges in other areas of his life.
Elliott's wife, Cami, was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2018. She was in remission until 2022,
when the cancer returned, according to Us Weekly. Elliott has been by her side
every step of the way, writing in a heartwarming post on Instagram,
"There is no one I consider braver, stronger,
more fearless even when you're faced with a sinister opponent who never plays fair. Even
after countless surgeries and chemotherapy rounds, She forges ahead into spring taking
on one of the most aggressive types of chemotherapy and immunotherapy."
In September 2022, Elliott updated fans, saying Cami is doing better as she
recovers from surgery to remove any remaining cancer. Elliott told People the month prior,
"Right now, there's no evidence of disease. We're happy about
that. We just want to keep that cancer critter away from her."
If you haven't heard the 1996 hit song "Strawberry Wine" by Deana Carter,
you're missing out — it's sappy and corny in all the best ways and it's a definite staple
of any '90s country playlist. Those of you who have heard the song may have wondered who it is
actually about, but wonder no longer. According to Taste of Country, Deana Carter is actually
singing about her past relationship with one of Hallmark's favorite male leads, James Denton.
"Magic."
Yep, James Denton and Deana Carter dated as teenagers when they were attending the same
high school in Nashville. And although Carter didn't actually write the song,
she connected with the lyrics, which reminded her of her first love, Denton. In fact,
Denton was an inspiration for much of her first album, titled "Did I Shave My Legs For This?"
Jill Wagner has starred in several Hallmark movies, including "Autumn Dreams" and "Christmas
in the Smokies." She's also known for her roles in "Teen Wolf" and "Punk'd." Wagner turned a
new page in her career by executive producing and starring in a spy drama called "Lioness."
Wagner is co-producing "Lioness" with "Yellowstone" creator and
director Taylor Sheridan, as she revealed in an inclusive interview with The List.
Wagner revealed that she feels lucky to work with Sheridan on the show. Lucky
indeed — in 2020, "Yellowstone" became the most-watched cable TV show of the year,
with the Season 3 finale bringing in 7.5 million viewers, according to Deadline.
"Lioness," which is slated to premiere on Paramount+ in 2023,
will allow Wagner to break out of her usual roles a bit since
the series is a military drama that is darker than her past Hallmark movies.
Hallmark fans will recognize Natasha Henstridge from her work in thrillers like "A Sister's
Nightmare" and "Home Invasion," but the actor actually got her start as a model in her
teens. Throughout the '90s and early 2000s, Henstridge appeared in a number of films,
including the hugely successful 2000 crime/comedy movie "The Whole Nine
Yards." But she is perhaps most well-known for her role in the 1995 sci-fi movie "Species."
"Species" is about a killer alien who comes to Earth in search of a mate — definitely not
quite the Hallmark material Henstridge works with now. She spoke about doing her own stunts
in the sci-fi series during an interview for the Blu-ray release of "Species II":
"I'm very, very adventurous — I loved to just get in there and do whatever I could do by myself."
One of those stunts even involved jumping through a glass wall. While
other actors may shy away from stunts, Henstridge is all about them. She added,
"I just love that stuff."
"That's fun. That's just a part of the experience of making it,
but I have great memories from that."
Catherine Bell is known for her role as Cassie Nightingale in Hallmark's "Good Witch," but
she had several other jobs before becoming the lead in the feel-good Hallmark series.
One of Bell's first gigs was actually as Isabella Rossellini's body double in
the 1992 dark comedy "Death Becomes Her." In the film, Rossellini plays Lisle von Rhuman,
a wealthy, sensuous woman who has a magic potion for eternal youth. One
scene in the movie required Rossellini to be nude, but the actor didn't think
that was such a good idea for her. In an interview with Vulture, Rossellini said,
"I said to the producer, Starkey, that I don't think I have that body. It has
to be incredible. It has to look like Barbie, and I don't have a Barbie body."
So, who did have the so-called "Barbie body" that was needed for the movie? None other than
Catherine Bell. While Bell hasn't said much about her experience as a body double in the
famous film, she did take to Twitter to retweet an article about the film in 2017, saying,
"25 years ago??!! Wow!"
So it's safe to guess she doesn't regret the experience.
"I always had trouble saying no to you."
"So don't say no."
Samuel Page is known for starring in Hallmark movies like "Christmas in Rome" and "All
Things Valentine," among other shows like "Mad Men," "Desperate Housewives," and "Scandal."
Page got married in 2014 to Cassidy Boesch and the story of how he met his wife is as
sweet as it gets. According to Cosmopolitan, he had just made an oath with his friends to
stay single for the summer. But he went to a cocktail party where he met Boesch,
and the two clicked and talked all night. That oath was pretty much
immediately thrown out. He left a voicemail for his friend, saying,
"I just wanted to go on the record to say,
this has never happened to me before and I guess I wouldn't believe in this until it
happened' — it was love at first sight. Love at first sight is real. It happened to me."
Nikki DeLoach is a talented actor who's appeared in the films "Love and Other
Drugs" and "The House Bunny," as well as several Hallmark movies like "Love Takes
Flight" and "Cranberry Christmas." But the most surprising role she played may have
been her part in the Mickey Mouse Club. All the way back in 1993, she joined the All-New
Mickey Mouse Club alongside stars like Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera, Ryan Gosling,
and Britney Spears. And although she seems to love her career with Hallmark, she hopes to return
to her roots eventually — not at Mickey Mouse Club, but on stage. She told Wide Open Country,
"It's been a really long time since I've actually stepped foot on a
stage. [...] It's where I started, obviously, because of singing and
dancing and Mickey Mouse Club and all of that, but it's been a really long time."