Yet again, I find myself hearkening back to the phenomenal cast and crew that graced the screen in Hallmark Channel’s first original series, Cedar Cove. As I told Colin Ferguson in this interview, I was rather predisposed to not like him and find everything wrong with his character, Paul, when he showed up season three. However, I quickly discovered that his character was well-developed, his acting was spot on, and indeed as competition for Dylan Neal‘s character, Jack, I couldn’t deny the fact that season three left me wondering who would be the object of Olivia’s affection. Thankfully, Hallmark fans have seen him fairly regularly over the past few years (yeah, he’s the guy from the Maytag commercials too), and while he does not typically post on social media all that often, I have held him in high regard for all these years. (He cemented my admiration when he personally thanked me for contributing to his fundraiser during Cedar Cove days.) Recently, I was literally dumbfounded when Colin agreed to chat with me in anticipation of his upcoming Hallmark movie, Christmas On Honeysuckle Lane. In spite of any difficulties surrounding the circumstances of this interview (that’s another story😉), I am thrilled that we truly had the opportunity to connect, and I gladly share my interview with my readers today!
Colin Ferguson Credit: ©2018 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Michael Larsen
RH: Colin, it is so good to get to chat with you today. I am very glad it worked out.
CF: Ruth, thank you for being flexible and I’m very glad to chat with you as well.
You have a Christmas movie coming up very soon, and I’m very excited to watch Christmas On Honeysuckle Lane.
I hope it doesn’t disappoint.
Well, so far, nothing that you have done on Hallmark has ever been a disappointment.
Oh, thank you.
With some of the Cedar Cove men
Honestly, I did not know who you were at all until Cedar Cove. That was my introduction to you. And I have not missed anything you’ve done on the network since then. I’ve always enjoyed it, and my mom is a huge fan of yours as well. When she knew that I was going to be talking with you, she was going on and on about how wonderful you are.
Now you can tell her that I’m not some kind of monster.
{laughs} So now I’m curious. How did you get started in acting?
Well, the funny thing was I was an incredibly shy child. I had done a couple of school plays, but only because I was the reader for the teacher when they were auditioning. And they said, “Hey, play this. You’re funny.” So as a kid, I was like, “Okay. That sounds terrifying, but all right.” Then when I got to university, it was a similar sort of dynamic. I had a friend who said he wanted to improvise, and he said, “Come with me.” And I was like, “Oh, that’s terrifying. Okay.” So I did. And from that one class, after the class, they said, “We’d like for you to join the group.” So in joining the improv group, I was suddenly surrounded by people who were doing it professionally, andI found I was learning by osmosis and hearing their stories about agents and auditioning. I had my questions answered about what an agent was and what an audition was and anything else I wanted to know about the business. Ultimately, I got side-pocketed with one of their agents. I went by and said, “I’d like to try this.” And things slowly built up from there. So it’s a perk and a lucky happenstance of having gone to university in a city where there was a film industry and an improvising scene. There was a lot of luck involved in all this.
Before you came to Hallmark, you were involved in a lot of shows, especially sci-fi. I know Eureka was your big show. Kavan Smith and Niall Matter have both spoken very highly of you when I’ve chatted with them.
EUREKA — “Double Take” Episode 512 — Pictured: (l-r) Colin Ferguson as Jack Carter, Kavan Smith as Deputy Andy — Photo by Michael Courtney/Syfy
Oh, they’re good guys. They’re some of the best you can get.
EUREKA — Episode 514 “Just Another Day” — Pictured:(l-r) Erica Cerra as Jo Lupo, Colin Ferguson as Jack Carter, Niall Matter as Zane Donovan — (Photo by David Cooper/Syfy
Eureka is one of those shows that when I have time, I hope to be able to sit down and watch. I have heard such great things about it.
Eureka was the show that put me on the map in a national way. It was the one that got me the most exposure. I’d been a network guy before that, but none of them ever really lasted. So I felt there was an industry knowledge of who I was, but not that much outside of it. And that was the first one that sort of put me out there.
Cedar Cove fans more than likely remember when you joined the cast during the third season. I don’t think I was alone in being resistant to your character in the beginning. We were all concerned that you were going to be the one that stole Olivia away from Jack. But I will tell you a lot of the fans and I would say that you did win us over.
Andie MacDowell (Olivia), Colin Ferguson (Paul)
Yeah!!!
By the end of the season, I remember there was an episode where your character and Olivia are having a discussion where you reveal the fact that you have feelings for her. And by the time the season ended, I was torn. I didn’t even know who I wanted Olivia to go for.
That’s got to be a testament to Sue Tenney. That’s an amazing writing achievement, that she could build it up over the course of the season. I was actually just talking to her the other day. She’s doing another show with Netflix, and she wanted me to join it. But the schedule didn’t work out. It’s tough with a five-year-old. I’m not the type who can just jump, you know? If he can’t come with me and I can’t figure it out…I don’t get these years back.
That’s so true. And that’s something I’ve noticed about you, and I think a lot of the fans are happy to see this too. When your child was born, he became your priority.
Absolutely. Hands down.
I know a lot of actors are the same way, but it’s always nice to see someone put their family first even if it’s ahead of their career.
Well, the career will push me out when it’s done with me, probably in the most unceremonious way, as it generally does. But my family won’t. You’ve got to put the effort where it’s important. I would never want him to have an issue because I wasn’t around because I chose my job over his well-being. And he’s also a good guy. He’s the best.
As a mother of a fifteen-year-old, I couldn’t agree more. I love the fact that my job lets me spend time with her, and thankfully she’s a good kid. And I’m not the only one who says that. She does well in school, and her teachers say she’s good too.
That’s good child-rearing right there. It takes effort. It’s not about throwing them in front of a tablet or some other device. It’s about the interactions day after day after day where you’re taking the time to explain things.
We fans have also seen you on the Fixer Upper Mysteries. You’ve done a few of those with Jewel. They became fan favorites, and I was impressed with them from the beginning. But do you happen to know if they have come to an end?
Yes, they have come to an end. Jewel has some family issues that have prevented her from being able to do more, which is unfortunate. At least we got to do three of them.
True. We really enjoyed them. I thought you both had really good chemistry. It was building towards more, I know, but I understand those things happen.
Yeah, I was looking forward to continuing these too because I wanted to have sort of a recurring family, a group of people I’d see a couple of times a year. I could pop away for three weeks and do a movie and then come back. I was looking forward to the structure of it, but like yourself, I get it. And like we were just saying, nothing’s more important than your kids.
Photo: Lori Loughlin, Colin Ferguson Credit: Copyright 2016 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Ricardo Hubbs
Exactly. And I guess this frees you up to some degree. And as they say, when one door closes, another one opens. And maybe they’ll be something else even better down the line. But the good news is that we will be seeing you in a new Christmas movie. We saw you in a Christmas movie a couple of years ago with Lori Loughlin. Again, I loved that movie. Every Christmas Has a Story.
Colin Ferguson, Lori Loughlin Credit: Copyright 2016 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Ricardo Hubbs
I loved that one too. That was a special one. Ron Oliver was the director, and we all got along so well. It was easy; it was fun. Lori is just a blast to work with. She knows her stuff, and she’s the kindest person you’ve ever met. She’s always looking for a laugh. I just think the world of her.
Me too. I’ve met her a couple of times. Now, Christmas On Honeysuckle Lane is your upcoming Christmas movie.
Yes, woo-hoo!!
With Alicia Witt!
She’s ama-a-a-a-azing! That was a fun, special movie.
Colin Ferguson, Alicia Witt Credit: ©2018 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Michael Larsen
Alicia Witt is a fan favorite and a favorite in my household. We will sit and watch anything she is in. And I’m just thinking the two of you together ought to be really fun to watch.
It was interesting how this one came about. I was supposed to be doing a different one that was shooting in North Bay, about five hours north of Toronto. I was willing to go forward with it, but as it turned out, they pulled the dates for that one and it became really problematic to make it work. And instead of figuring it out, they said, “Hey, there’s this other one that we’d love for you to do, and it shoots in Hartford, Connecticut.” And instantly, I thought that sounded like an amazing opportunity. So that went in the plus column. And I love Alicia. We had met probably twenty years ago at some party, but we didn’t have much recollection of what it was.
The shoot ended up being just as beautiful as you can imagine. It was all New York actors, and so when everybody’s out of town, it’s very different in its dynamic than it is shooting something in Vancouver. When you shoot in Vancouver, all the local actors go home at the end of the day. If someone were to ask, “Hey, do you wanna–?” Typically, the answer is, “No, we have to go home.” Which only makes sense since they have kids and families and whatnot. When you’re all on location, particularly in the fall…I mean our weekends as a whole group, we did corn mazes. We went to the state fair. We did dinners together. I had a car, and Arianne {Rinehart}, who plays Laurs’s {Leighton} daughter, had an audition back in New York, and I was like, “Take my car!” And she was like, “You sure?” And I was like, “Yeah!” We had a really great get-along; it was very special. And I think it stems from Alicia since she’s our leading lady. She’s incredibly accommodating and welcoming and kind. And I think everybody took their emotional marching orders from her.
Alicia Witt, Colin Ferguson Credit: ©2018 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Tilly Blair
What can you tell us about the story and how your character figures into the story of the film?
My character’s name is Morgan, and he lives in Oliver Wells, which is a small town in Virginia. Emma, played by Alicia, comes home because her parents have passed, and so she comes home for one last Christmas. They also have to sort out the estate. It’s a sober time for her and her family. I run the local antique shop. She comes by, and while we didn’t know each other previously, she asks me to come by and help sort out her parents’ affairs. In so doing, we discover that maybe her parents’ relationship was not as perfect as she thought it was. Maybe there was even some sort of transgression. So we set about to solve that, which we do. And in so doing, we fall in love, which is not what you would expect from the first meeting, which didn’t go as smoothly as it could have.
Alicia Witt, Colin Ferguson Credit: ©2018 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Tilly Blair
That sounds like it will be fun. But then I can’t imagine it wouldn’t be fun with you two in it, plus the whole cast. Hallmark just continues to create such wonderful content.
Yeah, absolutely. And what was amazing is we shot in Old Weathersfield, which is actually the first city in Connecticut. We would shoot in these buildings, and then they would just toss out, “Oh, by the way, they planned the Revolution in that room.” And I’d be like, “The American Revolution?!” Usually, we shoot these movies in Canada, but it’s so cool to shoot stateside for a change. And not even in some random location, but in Old Weathersfield, Connecticut! It goes right back to the beginning of the country. And with these old buildings that are steeped in American lore, it feels–and I don’t know how it will come across or how it will read–but it feels more true. We’re not covering up Canadian postboxes, and we don’t have to worry about seeing the Canadian flag or anything like that. They can shoot everything since we’re in the States.
Colin Ferguson, Alicia Witt Credit: ©2018 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: JJ Ignotz
I know exactly what you mean. I live in Washington State where a lot of these movies are supposed to take place that are shot in Vancouver. And I’ll see the stock image of the Space Needle, and I’ll think, “No, that’s not Seattle. It’s Vancouver. There’s no place like that in Washington State.” But of course, we’ll pretend it’s Washington anyway. I noticed this one was shot in Connecticut, and I really thought that was so cool. Now, in addition to Christmas On Honeysuckle Lane, is there anything else you have coming up that you want to make sure to mention?
Well, I spent a bunch of months working on that deal with Sue, so I had hoped to be able to say I was going to be doing a Netflix series, but that didn’t work out. I have done a couple short films with some of my friends. And of course, my commercial work with Maytag is out there.
Yes, we definitely know you from the Maytag ads. That gig has been going on for quite a while for you. How many years have you been doing that?
I think I’ve been doing it for six years. I’ve got two more on this current contract.
That’s been a pretty good deal for you.
It’s been great. And usually in interviews, you try to make it seem more glamorous, but as one parent to another, it pays the bills. It gets us qualified for the union medical, which is hugely important with a family. It gives me a lot of time with him at home. It couldn’t be a better time for this gig in my life.
I think we all understand that completely, and hey, it’s great.
Yeah, totally! And it’s the last American appliance manufacturer. It’s nice to be the face of that. I am all for getting behind this; we need to keep them here.
And the Maytag ads are one of the few ads that I actually don’t mind watching, which sounds kind of crazy.
{laughs} I get that. They do a good job! I read them when the copy comes in, and they’re good, cute, and funny.
I agree. So many ads out there are confusing, and you watch all the way to the end, and you still don’t know what they’re about! But with Maytag, I always understand them from the beginning. Now, if I remember correctly, there are some causes that you have supported in the past. I seem to recall something from back when you were on Cedar Cove.
I do get behind a lot of different stuff. I used to do a lot to help combat sex trafficking. I was raising a bunch of money annually for that. Now–and you can appreciate this–because my son is in kindergarten and because all the schools run on a massive deficit, I’m working with the PTA.
Hey, that’s perfect!
Right?!
Absolutely!!
His school moved from a Tier 1 school to something else. I guess that means it used to be a poorer school, but the benefit is a poorer school gets more funding. And they lost it. And all of a sudden, the principal’s like, “Yeah, we need to make up a hundred and eighteen grand or we don’t get assistants in the room.” So we on the PTA are working hard to make sure that shortfall is made up. So I’m working locally. Thinking globally, but working locally.
That is great! It shows again that you are being a committed parent who is actively involved. We need more parents who are willing to get involved because so often, it’s just a few parents that get involved.
I’m also lucky enough to have a schedule where I volunteer in his classroom for two hours a week. Which is nothing, but you get treated like you’re doing something Herculean. People are like, “Wow, that’s amazing!” But really, it’s just two hours out of my week. And his school is walking distance. I walk down to it and I walk back. And to be able to walk your kid to school is really magical. That’s what we all did when we were kids.
Colin, that’s so great! I’m glad I asked you about that. It’s so nice to talk to an actor that’s “normal,” shall we say? One who lives the normal life. {laughs}
{laughs} I work with them. I know exactly what you’re talking about.
with his son
I love to focus on the human element and show that actors like you are real people with real lives outside of acting.
And to be honest, it’s nice to be able to talk about this. My nephews were just asking me about what an interview is like, and I told them that as an interviewee, you take your marching orders from the interviewer. And sadly, a lot of them want the same answers you’ve given ten thousand times. There’s three or four pat questions and you give the pat answers. I understand the purpose, but I appreciate that you and I are getting to actually talk and have a conversation and discuss stuff.
Colin, I appreciate that because when I started interviewing people, I made the decision I was going to do it differently. There are great interviewers out there, but some of the interviews I have read are very boring for me because I can’t get a sense of who the person really is. And that is what I try to do in my interviews. And the fact that you were willing to share makes it a lot more fun for me and also for the fans to read.
I do agree with you there. All too often, all that is covered in interviews is about your character, the show, and then that’s it.
Colin, I want to thank you for taking the time today. I have learned so much, and I already thought very highly of you, and now that’s intensified quite a bit after talking with you.
I’m just trying to keep up Kavan and Niall! {laughs}
{laughs} There you go! And thank you again. I will look forward to seeing Christmas On Honeysuckle Lane, and I’m sure the fans are looking forward to it too.
And thank you, Ruth, for being accommodating and interactive. I hope everyone does enjoy the movie as well.
Colin Ferguson Credit: ©2018 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: JJ Ignotz
One of the most nerve-wracking things for me as an interviewer is conducting what I would consider a “cold interview,” or one where I have had virtually no contact previously with the person I am interviewing. While I had some minimal interactions with Colin years ago during Cedar Cove, there was a part of me that questioned if I would be able to relax and simply have a conversation with him. Well, in this case, I was the fortunate one because from the moment I heard Colin’s voice on the other end, all my concerns dissipated. Admittedly, it was Colin’s amiable disposition, his endearing humility, and his effortless sense of humor that instantly put me at ease. While it is correct that the interviewer sets the tone and pace for the interview, in truth, Colin is such a genuine, pragmatic, “normal” person that I would describe him as an interviewer’s dream (at least for THIS interviewer). In addition to all this, he’s an outstanding actor and an all-around kindhearted and wonderful human being. My regard for him has increased at least a hundredfold since chatting with him, and he has swiftly risen to become one of my favorites in the Hallmark universe.
I hope that everyone tunes in and watches Hallmark Movies & Mysteries tonight (November 24th) for the U.S. premiere of Christmas On Honeysuckle Lane. And good news, Canada! This movie is also set to premiere on the W Network on December 8th, so be sure to watch for it! Additionally, I would invite everyone to visit all of Colin’s links below and consider following him on Twitter and Instagram (here’s hoping he is able to update those again at some point) if you would like. At this point, I have interviewed hundreds of industry professionals, and while I often connect with the majority of them on some level, it is quite rare for me to have the immediate, effortless connection that he and I enjoyed throughout the interview. And I honestly don’t take the credit for that as I am merely doing my job and attempting to support and encourage the people I interview. Indeed, it takes a person as thoroughly authentic, down-to-earth, candid, and reciprocative as Colin, and I sincerely cannot wait to see what the future holds for him both professionally and personally. In truth, he deserves every affirmative word I could send his way, and I am honored to feature what has become one of my most favorite, “real” interviews I have ever done!
FOLLOW COLIN
Colin Ferguson Credit: ©2018 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Tilly Blair
