Interview: Sydney Scotia stars in the Hallmark Christmas movie ‘Our Holiday Story’
American-Canadian actress Sydney Scotia first won over fans as Geneva Hayes in the Netflix series Some Assembly Required. Recently, she was in UPtv’s Return to Sender (where she starred as Brittany), and now Scotia has officially entered a new fandom: Hallmark.
The Countdown to Christmas is on as the actress celebrates the season with her latest role in the Hallmark Channel Original movie Our Holiday Story. Scotia plays Joanna Ammer, a young woman who invites her boyfriend, Chris (Gavin Langelo), home to meet her family during the holidays. Her dad (Dave) and stepmom (Nell) are played by Hallmark favorites Warren Christie and Nikki DeLoach. While Jo sorts out her love story, Dave and Nell recount theirs to Chris and, in classic Hallmark fashion, reveal what makes this the most wonderful time of the year.
“To be part of something that they’re [Warren and Nikki] a part of is really exciting,” Scotia tells Hollywood First Look. “I like looking at all the comments and hearing the fans talking about it. This is a new audience for me, and experiencing the fandom in a new way is awesome.”
A good love story, especially when it comes to Hallmark, has all the right ingredients: a sweet romance, excellent writing, and chemistry between the actors. “Honesty is another huge one,” Scotia points out. “There is this moment in a romcom when the couple has a conflict; they don’t know if this is right for them, and having that come from an honest, relatable place is really important. There should also be a lot of fun moments and seeing that chemistry build between characters and the light parts of their relationship – I just love watching love happen on screen.”
Scotia went on to share more about her own on-screen love story. “Joanna, or Jo, as she’s called in the film, is driven and hard-working. She’s career-focused. She is an independent woman; she loves her family so dearly, and she loves her boyfriend. She grew up feeling like she needed to be a strong figure for her father. Their roles kind of get reversed when he has to be that strong figure and guiding light for her when she’s dealing with some of the same struggles that he has dealt with. She is grappling with whether or not her boyfriend is the one and if she is ready to say ‘I love you’ and commit to him for her whole life. I wanted to play Jo based on the parallels with her dad. I feel like one of the beautiful parts about the story is that they are a very supportive blended family. Her parents separated when she was a teenager, so she feels like she has to keep her dad in order, make sure he’s happy, and keep him on track when she is just the same as him. She realizes she can’t keep everything on track, so she needs a little bit of help.”
Filming it, she said, felt like a Hallmark movie within a Hallmark movie. The cast had a blast shooting in picturesque Kelowna, British Columbia, making the whole experience that much more magical.
“I hope that Joanna’s story uplifts and inspires people,” Scotia added. “If I took one thing away from her story, it would be that your past moments and your past mistakes are sometimes what make your present and future so beautiful. It makes the story that much more interesting in the end, whether it’s a love story or not. Knowing that everything works out how it’s meant to be is what I took away from her. This is a relative, relatable story that I see a lot of myself in. It comes down to trusting the process. A lot of the moments were no acting necessary, because I have gone through something very similar. It’s about believing in the process, trusting it and letting it be, and not trying so hard to grasp onto everything.”
The Original Hallmark Channel Christmas movie Our Holiday Story, starring Sydney Scotia alongside Nikki DeLoach and Warren Christie is out now.
