Honestly, this woman needs no introduction. Nikki DeLoach is such an extraordinarily esteemed member of the Hallmark family that her reputation precedes her. From the moment I spied her on Home & Family a few years ago (sorry, I was severely behind the times and only came in contact with her because of Hallmark), I was smitten, and I knew that I had to connect with this incredible woman. From the moment we first chatted, we knew we were kindred spirits, and I have been honored to claim this woman as a dear friend. Her new Christmas movie, Two Turtle Doves, will premiere on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries tonight (November 1st) {November 9th on the W Network}, and in anticipation of this remarkable event, Nikki and I got to chat (in spite of the fact she was recovering from a concussion!) about her movie and so much more!

Nikki DeLoach Credit: ©2019 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Steven Ackerman

RH: Nikki, I’m so glad you’re doing better so we can chat today! When you posted the update about your concussion, I was really worried, and I prayed for you.

ND: Ruth, thank you so much. That’s really sweet, and I appreciate that you did that. I am doing better. My doctor made me take care of myself because that’s something I don’t always do. I always want to put everyone else first, but my head did go through a wall. I am doing better, and I appreciate you reaching out and your flexibility and your concern. I hope you and your family are well.

It’s been a busy time, Nikki, but everything is going well. Other than the fact that we have a situation with a family member who has dementia. It’s been going on for some time, and thankfully it’s a slow-moving disease. But it can be difficult for my mom and me to deal with at times. 

I’m so sorry your family has to deal with that, Ruth. My family has had to deal with Alzheimer’s as well. So please, Ruth, if you ever have any questions or just need to talk through some things, let me know. I work hand-in-hand with an Alzheimer’s Association, and I have learned a lot over the past couple years about the medical field between that and my son’s heart surgeries. People tell me that I should just become a certified nurse. Because of everything between my dad and my son, I feel like I’ve lived in the medical world for the last two and a half years of my life. So please don’t hesitate to reach out if I can help you.

Nikki, thank you. That really does mean so much. And definitely, if I have a question or a concern, you will hear from me. 

Oh, yeah, always. They say we’re in this together–in this thing called life. So I’m happy to help when I can.

Nikki DeLoach Credit: ©2019 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Sven Boecker

Now, you have a Christmas movie coming up, Nikki, very soon.

Yes, this Friday, November 1st on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. It’s called Two Turtle Doves.

I am very excited about this one. I mean, I’m excited about all the Hallmark movies coming up. But you’re teaming up with Michael Rady again, which is just great.

It’s the best thing ever. He is the most wonderful human and such a talented actor. It was actually a dream to be teamed with him on this specific movie. Christmas kind of came early for me, I guess you could say.

And I noticed this movie is written by the same writer who wrote Love To the Rescue, Sarah Montana.

©2019 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Steven Ackerman

Yes, let me give you a little breakdown of how this movie came to be. Lesley Demetriades is the director of this movie. While it was her first time directing for Hallmark, it’s not her first time as a director. Her and her mother came up with this idea and developed it together. One of my favorite creative executives at Hallmark, Ashley Squires…I think she is just brilliant and wonderful and lovely and is very committed to telling important stories. And she’s also got such great taste. They all worked together on developing this story. They’re actually really good friends, which is so cool, and then they brought in Sarah Montana. By the way, this whole movie involves my dream team. Sarah Montana is one of my favorite writers, and also, I should say, one of my favorite humans. If you’ve never listened to her TED talk on forgiveness, I highly suggest you look it up and listen to it. It is incredible. And the last talk she did actually went viral, and now it’s got millions of views. She’s just a wonderful human being. The three of them–Leslie, Ashley, and Sarah–developed this idea with Hallmark. And I was like, “Wait, what? You’re doing a movie about grief? And the lead character is a researcher and a scientist whose job it is to research things that are important, like trauma on the brain and the body and what caused this trauma? And we all would get to do this movie for Hallmark? I’m sorry, but I HAVE to do it!!”

Nikki DeLoach, Michael Rady Credit: ©2019 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Steven Ackerman

I knew I had to be involved, so I campaigned to be involved with this movie because you know with everything I’ve been involved with over the last two and half years of my life with my dad and with my son, Bennett, it’s all been very traumatic for me. So for me, it’s become essential to really study trauma on the body and on the brain and to really investigate what that does to us if we don’t work it out or if we don’t see light. So when I found out we were doing a movie about it, I was over the moon. And instantly, I wanted to be involved. So I campaigned with Hallmark. And then I was like, “Well, listen, if you could bring Michael and myself back together for this, that would be the best early Christmas present that you could ever give me.” I knew it was Leslie’s first time directing for Hallmark, and I really wanted her to have a team of actors that were gonna hit it out of the park for her. And so although I couldn’t believe it, we all ended up in Winnepeg doing Two Turtle Doves.

That is an incredible story, Nikki. Oh, and I see that Michaela Russell came back too. 

Oh! Yes! Okay! Michaela Russell is a revelation. I have never connected with another child like I have her. I mean, obviously, besides my own children. Michaela is just incredible. I mean, besides the fact that she has such a talent, she is so real and so authentic. She has a gift as a child actor that I believe you’re either born with or later in life, you have to work very hard to achieve. This little girl has just got it. She is also one of the kindest, most beautiful human beings I have ever known in my life. It was such a joy. You should have seen us when we were reunited. I jumped out of the van, and she came running to me. She was crying, and she jumped into my arms. I spun her around. I just love her so much. You know, me, Michaela, and Michael, for some reason, we’re creative soulmates. We work really well together.

Michaela Russell Credit: ©2019 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Steven Ackerman

That is so amazing to have you all come together again. I mean, it’s almost like a Hallmark movie itself, the way it came together!

{laughing} I know! I would agree!

Now, let me tell you that I have overheard that some of the Hallmark fans are concerned about watching Two Turtle Doves because they said they thought it was going to be a really sad movie. 

Oh, they did?

Yes, and I don’t know how many fans are feeling the same way. I was a bit surprised and wanted to say, “You’re not going to watch it because you think it’s going to be too sad?” So, in keeping with that issue, if you were going to tell someone why they should sit down and watch Two Turtle Doves, what would you say?

Michael Rady Credit: ©2019 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Steven Ackerman

Well, there’s a couple of things. First of all, there’s nothing wrong with being sad.

I agree with that.

I would also say that the topic of grief and people moving through grief is something that we all have experienced or will experience. Whether we’ve lost a beloved pet or we’ve lost somebody that we love in our life. At some point in time, it’s definitely something that’s going to happen to us. It’s inevitable. What this movie seeks to do is show you how you can move through that with openness, joy, and potentially find love along the way. That’s why I think it’s one of the most important stories that’s being told in Christmas movies this year is because it does have the universal theme of grief, something that all of us will experience.

Nikki DeLoach, Michael Rady Credit: ©2019 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Steven Ackerman

But outside of that, I think we’re all so scared of feeling feelings that feel icky or sticky or just bad. Whether that’s shame or grief or sadness or fear or anxiety…we are so afraid as a society to feel these “bad” things that we employ a hundred thousand different techniques every single day to not have to feel those things. It’s so that we can escape them and run away from them.  But what I’ve learned and what this movie seeks to tell–because me and Leslie and Sarah and Ashley have all experienced really deep things in our lives and we’ve all had to come face-to-face with this– if you can manage as a human being to have the courage to move through something painful, that is where all the magic and the miracles exist.

©2019 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Steven Ackerman

For example, I’m going home for Christmas this year, and it’s gonna be the last Christmas we will have my dad in the house with us. He’s sixty-five years old and his dementia has taken such a toll that he is now going to have to be moved into a home, a mind care facility. And yes, that is very sad, but I am also walking into this situation with a very open heart, and I am ready to squeeze everything out of this that I possibly can. In a way, I truly believe it’s gonna be one of the most joyful Christmases I have ever had in my entire life because I know what’s at stake. It’s more important to me than ever. And I think that the message of the movie is that we have to live our lives that way. We’re all gonna come up against feelings that don’t feel good, and we’re all gonna move through things that are bad. But if you can move through that stuff with openness, you can find grace, joy, and laughter. And like in this movie, potentially, you just might find love.

I feel like this movie is more of a beautiful instruction manual on how to find love in the face of fear. This is something that I feel like everyone needs to watch, and it’s a movie that I want to turn on and watch when I want to laugh and cry, but I also want to be changed by it. I think that is the point of turning on our televisions. We need to be watching something that we allow to move us and change us and by the end of the movie, I promise you’re still gonna have those same happy feelings that you feel on all Hallmark movies. But it’s gonna feel even better because of what it’s gonna mean to you.

Nikki DeLoach, Michael Rady Credit: ©2019 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Steven Ackerman

You’re still going to see us doing all the fun things. We do the hot cocoa. We are looking for the two turtle dove ornaments. There’s a mystery wrapped up inside of all that. We go to the Christmas tree farm. I put together this giant Santa and reindeer scene in my grandmother’s front yard. The Santa is a hundred and fifty pounds. They told me that this was the only Santa they could find that was a hundred and fifty pounds, and they said, “I’m sorry, but we can’t have you lifting this onto the sleigh.” But I said, “I’m going to be lifting the Santa onto the sled because I will do anything for a joke. Just know that this Santa will be lifted by me.” And they were like, “You can’t lift it! It took two of us to get the Santa here.” But I was like, “I will be lifting it!” It’s a hysterical scene; it’s ridiculous. I’m struggling to lift this giant Santa, and we’re trying to have a conversation about stuff that matters. And I think it’s just so reflective of life. You know, there’s something that happens that makes us sad, and then ten minutes later, we laugh hysterically because somebody makes a joke. I think the movie is gonna be a classic, and I think it’s a really important story to tell.

Nikki DeLoach, Michael Rady Credit: ©2019 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Steven Ackerman

Nikki, you make me want to watch this movie even more now. Of course, I wanted to watch this movie before, but now after hearing you talk about all this, I am really excited about Two Turtle Doves. And speaking of your Hallmark movies, especially over the past couple of years, they are always so different in a good way from so many other Hallmark movies. Don’t get me wrong, I love Hallmark movies. But with yours, there’s always some kind of real-life lesson or something unique or maybe even a different perspective. Your movies stand out and are very memorable. Sometimes I have to refresh my memory about what certain movies are about or whatever. But with yours, even if I have only seen them once in the past few years, they made such an impact on me that I always remember them. 

Michael Rady, Nikki DeLoach, Michaela Russell Credit: ©2019 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Steven Ackerman

Ruth, thank you for saying all that. That really means a lot to me. I do try to make movies that I feel matter and that mean something to me. I want my movies to leave an imprint on someone’s heart, and that’s important. I think at some point in my career–and I have done this for thirty-three years–but in the beginning, I was doing this for me because it made me really happy and I loved being an artist and a storyteller. I would chase these projects because I wanted to do them. But at some point in time, something shifted and I woke up and realized this was not what life was about. I mean, certainly, I know I am so blessed to wake up every day and do the thing that I love to do for a living. I thank God on my hands and knees every single day saying, “Thank you, God, for allowing me to make money doing the thing that I love to do–telling stories.” I’m so grateful.

Nikki DeLoach Credit: ©2019 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Steven Ackerman

But I woke up and realized that my purpose is bigger than I realized. My purpose is being a person of service and trying to become the best version of myself. And also leaving the world better than I came into it. I feel it’s important that I try to say how I’m being of service in this movie and what kind of story we’re telling and what kinds of characters these are. I am excited to see how this is going to move the needle forward and how this is going to be meaningful to somebody. I give it all up to people like Ashley Squires, who is really trying to do that every day at Hallmark. And I applaud Randy {Pope} and Bill {Abbott} and Michelle {Vicary} for championing Ashley in that and saying, “Yes, let’s do that! Let’s tell a story like Two Turtle Doves.” It’s what makes them such great leaders as well, and I’m really proud of them as a network for doing it. And then to have Leslie, who’s such a deep soul, and Sarah. You know, that’s why I call this group of people the A-team because they are people who love doing their work, but at the end of the day, their lives are about service and trying to make a difference in other people’s lives. So the fact that you feel the way you do about my movies, I can’t even tell you how much that means to me. It means the world to me.

Zach Tinker, Michael Rady, Nikki DeLoach Credit: ©2019 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Steven Ackerman

I’m so glad, Nikki. This movie sounds like something I want to sit down and watch with my mom and dad. I’m definitely looking forward to connecting with this story and going on this journey with the characters in the movie. 

Thank you, Ruth, I really hope a lot of people will tune in tonight.

Nikki DeLoach, Michael Rady Credit: ©2019 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Steven Ackerman

Me too, Nikki. I know that in years past, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries didn’t have Christmas movies on Friday nights, but this year it is different. They have new Christmas movies every Thursday and Friday night, and I hope people don’t forget.

Thanks for pointing that out. Oh, and it’s important to point out that there are a lot of females involved in this production. A female writer, a female director, a female producer…I love the fact that so many females are involved with this movie.

Michael Rady, Nikki DeLoach Credit: ©2019 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Steven Ackerman

I absolutely agree. Now, I know Two Turtle Doves is the next thing coming up for you, but I want to make sure to ask if there’s anything else coming up that you can mention?

Well, I have a movie in development with Hallmark right now, and I have a script that I wrote with my writing partner that Hallmark is planning to do as well. I’m super excited about both of those. They should both be for 2020. Outside of that, I am doing the Walk to End Alzheimer’s this weekend on Saturday morning. Anyone in the Los Angeles area who wants to join is welcome to come out and join us. It’s such an inspirational event. We walk through the LA Zoo. So if you go, you get a free zoo trip! But you’re also giving back and doing good in the world.

with Ashley Williams

I love that so many Hallmark actors have joined together to do this! I gave towards it last year, and I gave towards it again this year. And I know many of the fans have given too.

Thank you, Ruth. I appreciate your support, and I appreciate the support of everyone who has been able to give. All donations are welcome.

Thank you so much for taking the time to chat, Nikki. I’m very glad you’re feeling better. And I’m also very excited to see Two Turtle Doves. 

My pleasure, Ruth. Thank you for your flexibility. And I hope everyone watches the movie tonight!

How cool is it that Nikki spent the initial part of our discourse ensuring that my family and I were doing well? Without a doubt, Nikki is one of those exceptional souls who places everyone else before herself, and exactly who you see on-screen is the “real” Nikki! She is undoubtedly one of the most authentic people in the film and TV world today, and everyone who has the opportunity to meet her and work with her would probably refer to her as an “earth angel.” Her movies are consistently distinctive and permeated with heart and impactful messages that ensure long after the movie has concluded. To be quite forthright, I don’t know how Hallmark and we fans have been so fortunate to encounter someone who personifies compassion, humility, and self-sacrifice as she. Her faith, family and friends all work together to keep her on the straight and narrow path, and the fact that God has planted Nikki in my life is something for which I am profoundly appreciative.

I hope that everyone in the U.S. will tune into Hallmark Movies & Mysteries tonight (November 1st) for the premiere of Two Turtle Doves. (And our Canadian neighbors can tune in November 9th to see it on the W Network.) Furthermore, if you are NOT following Nikki DeLoach at any or all of the links below, I urge you to rectify this matter immediately! This is an individual who will not only entertain you, but she will inspire you regularly by her sincerity and eagerness to make the most of every experience, regardless of the why or the wherefore. She views everything in life as an opportunity to serve others and demonstrate how the appropriate attitude can lead to even more comprehensive benefits than were ever dreamed possible. I hope that all of my readers will make a concerted effort to watch tonight’s movie in spite of any misgivings or concerns about experiencing sorrow or grief because after all, without those “negative” emotions, we know that the most excellent blessings in life are not likely to occur. Let’s take a cue from Nikki and embrace life with a full heart, while supporting this phenomenal woman who is the absolute epitome of love, grace, understanding, mercy, kindness, and joy. 

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CHECK OUT MY PAST INTERVIEWS WITH NIKKI

Nikki DeLoach Credit: ©2019 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Steven Ackerman

Interview With Actress Nikki DeLoach, “A Dream of Christmas”

Interview With Actress Nikki DeLoach, “Truly, Madly, Sweetly”

Interview With Actress/Executive Producer Nikki DeLoach, “Reunited At Christmas”

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