It may have been the second time I interviewed Paul Greene when he mentioned a movie called Sweet Home Carolina, and his co-star was none other than Heather McComb. I was familiar with the name, but since I was out of the loop for many years and missed a wide variety of television shows that EVERYONE seems to have watched (thank God for Netflix!), I had never seen her in anything that was overly memorable as far as I was concerned. This past Christmas, I had some credit to spend with Amazon Video, and I decided to use it on Christmas Day to finally watch this charmingly engaging film. While I admit I watched it because I am a huge Paul Greene fan, it introduced me to the delight and wonder known as Heather McComb. Recently, I was able to chat with her about her career as a whole as well as this refreshing film and a few other delectable tidbits.

RH: Heather, I’m so glad that it worked out to chat with you today.

HM: Ruth, thanks for reaching out and being so willing to chat with me. I understand you’ve interviewed my friend, Paul Greene.

Oh, yes, I’ve interviewed him five times now and met him as well.

He is just amazing; he really is.

Sweet Home Carolina Premiere

I agree completely. And the movie you both did together, Sweet Home Carolina, was the first time I actually got to see you in something. I think I’d heard your name, but I’d never actually seen you in anything. Oh, except, I did see you in Beethoven’s 2nd. I do believe you had a small role in that.

I did, but that was so long ago. I think I was around thirteen years old when I did that.

I understand that. But as far as actually watching you, my mom and I both watched Sweet Home Carolina Christmas Day. We had done the tree, and we just wanted to watch something nice together, and that is the movie we chose.

Oh, that’s so nice! That actually gives me chills because Christmas is my favorite holiday.

My favorite holiday too! And my mom and I just absolutely loved the movie. I mean, we watched it because Paul was in it, but we honestly just loved your role! I adored watching you. I became a huge fan.

Aw, that means so much to me. We had such a good time making that movie, so thank you so much.

My pleasure, Heather. So now I get to connect with you a bit and find out your story. And the nice thing is that this movie is now featured on Hallmark’s streaming service, Hallmark Movies Now. So I know people are finding the movie through that service as well as other streaming sites.

That just makes me so happy! It’s so nice when you make a movie and it can find a home where people can actually watch it. With so many of these little, independent movies, you never know what’s gonna happen to them. Everybody works super hard on them and puts their all into them, so when they actually find a home where people can find them and enjoy them, it really makes it all worthwhile.

Now, you started out acting when you were pretty young, isn’t that right?

Yeah, I did my first commercial when I was two years old. It was a Publisher’s Clearing House commercial. I was basically a little girl on my grandpa’s lap sucking my thumb, and that was the first thing I ever did. I kind of just stumbled into it, and then I found it again, probably when I was around eight years old. I always worked commercially, and I found my true love for it when I was around ten or eleven years old. I found that it was a really good outlet for me to express feelings that I was unable to express verbally. I found out at a very early age that I can express myself through various characters, and it really helped me on my journey as a person. Acting became very cathartic for me.

As far as movies, I had done little co-starring roles and little bit parts here and there, but my first big role was in this movie called New York Stories, which Francis Ford Coppola directed. It was a dream come true. I was just a little girl from New Jersey, and out of all the people who auditioned for that role and the different variables that landed me the role, it was just a dream come true. It was like a fairy tale. Francis became a very influential part of my life and really showed me what life could be and what art is. He inspired me to be an artist. He was a magical guy and very instrumental in my life. So that was my first experience.

The Outsiders

My dream was always to come out to LA because I lived in New Jersey. I got a role on a TV show that was very short-lived called The Outsiders. We did thirteen episodes. Francis actually executive produced that along with Fred Roos. I got on that show, and it brought me and my whole family out to LA, which was great. So I say that I moved out to LA when I was twelve and I haven’t moved since. I love it here. And by the grace of God, I’ve been a working actor for thirty-eight years. That’s no easy feat and it’s had its ups and downs, but I wouldn’t change anything. It’s a beautiful thing to have your career unfold this way.

I was looking at The Outsiders, and I’m familiar with the book, but didn’t know there was a series inspired by that.

It was very short-lived, and although it was a really good show, sometimes the good shows don’t last. That’s just sometimes the way it goes. But I had a great time, and it’s what brought me and my family out here to LA, which was everything at the time.

I’m going to have to look that show up.

I really think you’d enjoy it. There are lots of people on the show you’d probably recognize. We were all young at the time. Billy Bob Thornton was on the show. David Arquette, Jay Ferguson. Leonardo DiCaprio did a small role on that. Stephen Dorff was on it. You’ll see a lot of people on it that you know now and that are pretty big. I know I’ve seen the episodes posted on YouTube, but they might be available elsewhere. I was twelve at the time, so I was a little nugget of a thing. I think you’d get a kick out of it.

I notice you were also on the original Prison Break.

Yes, I was. I played Gretchen’s sister. I loved that show; it was just awesome. It was such a fun character. And Jodi Lyn O’Keefe is a great person and really fun to work with. I played her sister, and we just had a really great time.

Prison Break

I saw the reboot of Prison Break, and that has prompted me to watch the original. So I will keep an eye out for you.

My character was on season four towards the latter part of the season.

I’ve certainly enjoyed it so far. I know they said after this last reboot they weren’t going to do anymore, but now I’m hearing there’s a chance they may come back again sometime in the near future. I think you were also on Party of Five, a big show many people would know.

Yes, that’s right.

That’s one of those shows that I somehow missed. In fact, I have this long list of shows that I somehow missed. There were like five or ten years where I just didn’t watch much TV, and now I’m playing catch-up.

The Profiler

I understand. And total transparency, I don’t watch too much TV either. But as for other shows that people might know, I did a show for a couple of years called The Profiler. That was with Ally Walker and Robert Davi. I played Robert Davi’s daughter on that show. I was on the first few seasons. That was a great show to work on. After that, I did a season of Party of Five.

Ray Donovan

Then I did an arc on Ray Donovan. That is the most recent arc I’ve done on a TV show. It was my favorite show on television. I loved the show and when I got the audition, I was so excited! I couldn’t believe I got the opportunity to audition for it. And then when I got it, I was even more excited! Dash Mihok, who plays Bunchy–I got to play his love interest, Patty. We had such a great time. Ann Biderman, who wrote the show…she’s so talented and just wrote such great characters. It was an intense show to work on. All the characters are super deep, but well thought out. We had such a great time on that show. So a lot of people know me from that show if they’re fans of Ray Donovan. It’s a tremendous show to work on, and I still watch it.

Heather McComb as Patty and Dash Mihok as Bunchy Donovan in Ray Donovan (Season 2, Episode 4). –

Then throughout the years, I ‘ve done a lot of episodic TV shows. I’ve done every CSI there is. I’ve done the gamut of them. Then I’ve also done a ton of independent movies. Some have gone to the Sundance Film Festival. There’s one called All the Real Girls. One called Steel City. Another called God’s Lonely Man. These are all small movies that went to the festival. Then there are these other movies for Hallmark, SyFy, Lifetime movies. I think I’ve done four Lifetime movies in a row. I just finished another one called Deadly Lessons. I’m excited to see how that turns out. We had a lot of fun making that one. I have been really lucky over the years to play an array of characters, and I’m just so lucky that I get to do what I love. It’s so cool. I’ve worked with such great people, which is a huge bonus. There are so many great, creative artists out there. And it’s just nice that I get to collaborate with them on some level.

With Sweet Home Carolina, is there a story about how this movie came about?

Well, Sweet Home Carolina came kind of out of nowhere. I had just finished a movie called Day of Reckoning. I got a call from my agent maybe about three days later that I had gotten an offer for this movie. Elizabeth Snoderly was the producer on it. She’s a lovely woman, a great producer, and does a lot of these movies. She sent over the script with the offer attached and I absolutely loved it because I’ve done a lot of things in my career, but it’s been a lot of dramatic roles and very serious roles. I hadn’t done a light, romantic movie in a really long time, so I think that was the allure of it. Something that my little sister can watch. I have a thirteen-year-old sister, and this was something she could watch and that my friends’ kids could watch. And that my mom could watch and not be like, “Oh my gosh, is this a slasher flick?! What happens to Heather? Tell me now, can I watch this one?” I was really attracted to just how positive it was and the aspect of a single mother struggling and what that’s like. I was raised by a single mom and I know how tough it is to raise two girls, so I felt I really related on that level. And just being from a small town and having to go back to that small town and what that would make you feel like. You feel like you accomplished so much, and then you feel like you have to go back to the world that you wanted so desperately to get out of. So I was really inspired by the story.

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And also by the love interest. Paul was actually attached at that point, and I’m a huge fan of Paul as a human being and as an artist. We had such great chemistry and such a great time together. It was always so light. He’s such a unique person and brings so much light and good energy to the set, and it was such a special treat to work with him on this movie. We truly had a great time, and I really hope it comes across that way because we had such a great time making it. It was a special time, what I could call a little sparkle of time with this movie. Everyone worked incredibly hard on it and everybody wanted to make a fabulous movie. And I wanted to be able to tell this wonderful story. It has a good, positive message about how we all struggle, and it’s just a matter of how you handle the struggle. Diane’s a very flawed character, but I think of her as beautifully flawed, so I was really attracted to her as a person. She had a lot of layers for me to play with, but it was fun to have Paul Greene as the love interest too. I’d say that’s not too shabby.

Honestly, your chemistry in the film did come across well. I enjoyed all the chemistry between you two. But I do think that Paul Greene would have chemistry with just about any of his leading ladies. Indeed, he seems to be able to do that.

{laughs} He does, I’m sure, honestly he can.

What I appreciated about the movie is that it is family-friendly, and yet it had a few different twists. And not in a bad way, but in a good way. You didn’t always see everything coming. Sometimes you watch a romantic comedy, and you know exactly what to expect at all times. But with this movie, there were surprises along the way that kept your interest. And I felt it was relatable. I felt your character was relatable. I’m a single mom too. Sometimes there are really great actresses as the leads, but I can’t always relate to the character as well as I could yours.

That is just great and so nice.

And the fans seem to really enjoy the film. I’ve seen a lot of comments from people recommending it. I don’t think I’ve seen anything negative about it.

That’s so fabulous! I love hearing that. It makes me so happy when what we do makes people happy. When you see characters you can relate to, it makes you feel like you’re not alone in the world.

Now, you guys need to do some kind of sequel so we can see the rest of the story.

Absolutely! There’s definitely more to explore there I think. I’d like to see what their journey is as a family continuing on. That would be so fun.

Now you have your own production company, isn’t that right?

Battle Scars premiere

Yes, I do. Though not under this production company, I actually produced my first feature. It was released theatrically last July. It’s now available on VOD or iTunes or any other streaming service. It’s called Battle Scars, and it’s definitely a lot darker than Sweet Home Carolina. I’m very proud of it, and you know, making a movie is not easy. It’s a lot of work. You have to find the financing and the script and a director and the actors. When I was a kid, as an actor, I thought I knew how hard it was to make a movie. But as actors, they kind of shield us from that stuff. When you’re on the production side, you genuinely see everything, so it was a really cool journey for me. Very eye-opening.

Battle Scars cast

We had a great cast. Zane Holtz was in it who you may know from The Perks of Being a Wallflower. He was also on From Dusk Till Dawn which is on the ElRey Network. Ryan Eggold is in it, and he’s on The Blacklist. And Fairuza Balk from The Craft. Essence Atkins who’s a dear friend of mine who did me a huge solid by coming and being a part of the movie. She was so good in it. David James Elliott from Jag who you may know. Kristen Renton and Amy Davidson. We had a fantastic cast. A lot of people did us huge favors when they came aboard this movie. It was definitely a labor of love. But the icing on the cake was that it actually got out there and people can watch it. I’m really proud of it, and it was definitely an adventure.

Now I’m producing more. I have a couple of projects I’m working on. I like it though. Producing is a whole new beast. It’s a different kind of adventure. But I love making movies, so this is just the next level of me being able to contribute in some way.

Are you thinking of expanding and maybe doing some directing or writing?

Honestly, I would love that. I have ideas as a writer, but I don’t think writing is my strong suit. I’ve just never written before. But I’m not saying I would never try it. If there was a story I was super passionate about it… I think there are people who are more qualified than me to write a movie or a television show, but that doesn’t mean that I may not try at some point or maybe work with or collaborate with somebody else who’s at a higher level than me.

Photo by Eric Scot

I’m very interested in directing. I’ve always been interested in directing. It’s something that I feel would be super fun and challenging. But I love actors so much, and that’s really the allure for me–to be able to work with actors. It would be phenomenal. I love being on set. For me, being on set is the most fun place in the world. You know, you do these movies in such short spans of time. Sometimes fourteen days, sometimes eighteen days. But you go into these situations with thirty strangers and you don’t even know each other when you start out. But by the end of the movie, you’ve genuinely become a family. You’ve gone through so much together, and you’ve got each other’s backs. Things have gone wrong, things have gone right, but through it all, you’re a team, and that teamwork is what truly has inspired me to consider becoming a director and to want to direct. I would definitely love to explore that venue, and I’m looking at options now–different challenges– things that I would like to try my hand at directing.

That’s good, Heather, I had a feeling you might be interested in directing. From all my experience of interviewing directors, it just seems like I could see you directing and doing it very well.

Aw, thank you so much! I’ve worked so hard to be able to have the opportunity to do it, so now I just have to jump in and do it.

Oh, it would be great! And I love the fact that we’re seeing more women behind the camera because although that is getting better in the industry, it is something that is still lacking.

I agree. We definitely have more work to do. We need to get more female directors and more female perspectives. There’s no doubt about that. It’s much different than it was even five years ago. I mean it’s even much different than it was a year ago. There’s definitely progress being made. I think female voices are so strong and need to be heard. But I’m grateful to begin to see the shift in the industry towards more female directors and writers and producers.

With your busy career, what do you like to do when you have downtime?

Oh, my favorite thing in the world is entertaining! I love it! Let me give you a glimpse of my life during the holidays. I hosted Thanksgiving. I think I probably hosted about twenty-five people which was great. And then on Christmas…well, right before Christmas, I had a dear friend who came to town so I hosted a dinner party for her with about twenty people. Two days later for Christmas, I hosted about forty people. And then about two weeks later, I threw a big party because I just wanted my house to be filled with love. So I hosted a dinner party for another thirty or forty people.

Photo by Eric Scot

So for me, having people in my home sharing and eating good food and drinking good wine while sharing stories is what I love. I really believe that together we can accomplish so much and I feel like energy is very important. So I love to be around people that I love. That makes me the happiest. Thus, in my downtime, I will probably most likely be having a dinner party or something at my house.

Even the chaos of having to cook all that food is great. And I do everything. I go to the flower market and I get the flowers. Downtown, we have this big flower market where you can get wholesale flowers, even if you’re not a wholesale seller. So I go down there at about six in the morning and I buy a bunch of flowers. I have it down where I can literally make about twenty arrangements for about forty dollars, which is insane. Then I do all my shopping and just the anticipation and preparation of knowing that people are coming to my house makes me so happy. All the cooking is just so nice. It’s pleasant to be around such great energy. And it’s usually open so people bring people and sometimes there’s people I don’t know. As a result, I have the chance to get to know them.

Well, now I’m literally in awe of you, Heather. I am amazed how you are able to do all that and genuinely love doing it.

I do love it. And I live right next door to my family–to my mom and sister. I’m a family girl and I love to be with my family and the people I love most in the world. To me, connection is everything. And sometimes when I get really busy, I’m not able to connect with them in the way that I want or that I hope to. So I always try to create an environment where we can all come together because we all have busy lives. But it’s great to come together and let loose and have fun and laugh. And listen to music and share stories, whether they’re good or bad or no matter what you’re going through in life. You come together and be pillars for each other. And that just brings me so much happiness. I think for me the chaos that comes along with it is worth it. The clean-up is never fun! {laughs} I always wake up and go, “Oh my gosh, I did it again!” But that’s what gives me the most joy in my downtime. That and hanging out with my little dog.

Well, that tells me why I found you so accessible. What you’re telling me about the things that are important in your life and what makes you happy is not what I always hear from actors. A lot of people don’t say family or dinner parties are what they do in their downtime. Or at least, it’s not the first thing they say. And, of course, I understand that everyone is different. But I think these connections you have are part of what makes the viewers able to connect with the roles you play.

Oh, that’s nice. I do genuinely love people. I feel like life is not always an easy road. That’s just the facts. And at the end of the day, all we really have is each other and a connection. We’re really just helping each other along through the good and the bad and all that’s in between. And for me, that’s everything. That’s what you take with you when you go. It’s those connections and moments. I like to create those moments for people. I love to create an environment where people can have moments. That’s what makes me happy. And I think that’s why I love being an actor because it’s just creating moments. Those moments are just captured in a different way. So for me, creating those moments and being in those moments is the most important thing. One hundred percent.

Heather, I am even more impressed after talking with you today. I was already fascinated and stimulated by you, but I am even more so now. Thank you for your time.

Same here, Ruth. It was lovely. And God bless you and your family, sweetheart.

Photo by Nick Holmes

From the moment Heather and I began conversing, there was an instant bond that I don’t always experience the first time I meet someone whether in person or on the phone. I was immediately able to perceive Heather’s warm heart and sweet spirit, and while she was willing to detail her vast experience in the entertainment business, it was never executed in an arrogant or overbearing fashion. Although I had only seen one of her projects, it did not cause her to recoil nor disengage with me on any level. On the contrary, she stretched beyond herself to ascertain our mutual connections and thus made my job incredibly simple. Heather is a rarity in this business, and it’s easy to see why she and Paul connected on screen in Sweet Home Carolina. They have mutual respect for each other, and although she has been in the business for almost her entire life, she was willing to highlight and compliment someone like Paul, who is a relative newcomer when compared with her. Her kindness and willingness to elevate everyone else and not artificially advance her career nor draw undue attention to herself is fully evident and commendable. I do believe the world could use a few more people like Heather, and I’m quite privileged to know her.
If you have not seen Sweet Home Carolina, I would advise you to look it up as soon as possible and luxuriate in a film that contains Hallmark-friendly values and genuinely inspires the viewers to value community and believe in the possibility of second-chance love while not sacrificing one’s authenticity as a person. Additionally, I would invite my readers to visit all her links below and consider following her where you can. Although she has not made an official Hallmark network film, the diversity of her body of works and professional attention to detail in all areas is something that is praiseworthy, not to mention a true testament to her motivational personality and captivating character. My only regret now is that I don’t live closer to Heather because as she described these astounding house parties she hosts, I only wish I could attend! Nonetheless, having the opportunity to feature the brilliance and inner light of this reverential woman produces in me the kind of supreme joy that reminds me of the awe-inspiring responsibility and honor that is entrusted to me every time I get to interview someone! While Heather’s radiance far transcends my paltry words, I sincerely hope my readers are able to discern at least a sparkle of her scintillating personage!
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