Celebrity Spotlight: Ali Sweeney

Ali Sweeney is an icon that has been gracing our screens for years. From Sami Brady on Days of Our Lives to hosting The Biggest Loser to winning Lego Masters Jr, she always has a way of keeping us captivated and entertained.

She is also known for her amazing portrayal as Hannah Swenson in the Hannah Swenson Mystery movies on Hallmark.  To celebrate her fourteenth time playing this iconic role (Best Served Cold: A Hannah Swensen Mystery), TVGrapevine is honored and proud to share an exclusive interview with Ali.

 

Sammi: Congratulations on Movie Number 14. Thank you. How does it feel to be back at as Hannah?

Ali: It’s so fun to play Hannah. I love this character. She’s so much fun and and every time I feel like it’s there’s something new and fresh and a different take on the the details of what’s going on, but it’s still the same characters that we love and are familiar with.

 And you know, getting to work with Barbara Niven as my mom is just a dream, and she’s just delightful. So I love these these roles. I love these characters, and it’s a lot of fun. It’s a great job.

Sammi: How do you think Hannah’s evolved since you began in this role?

 

Ali: Well, in some ways, I think she’s definitely become more aware of she was sort of just looking into solving crimes and kind of accidentally, sort of noticing things about people. And now I think she’s a little more deliberate about getting involved and recognizing clues right away and paying attention to those details, but she’s still an amateur, and she still has a real job as a baker, and so she, you know, is trying to navigate both without, you know, I don’t want her to become a professional.

I think it’s fun that she’s still just bringing cookies to people and getting them to open up to her, but with a more educated understanding of needing real evidence.

You know, Chad’s brought another level of understanding to her of it, she has to convict them, you know, they have to really be guilty, and you have to get a jury to believe that.

And so she expects more from herself, which is fun.

Sammi: When  you first began playing Hannah back years ago, what was your initial thought about the character?

Ali: Oh, right, from day one, I loved Hannah. She’s a relatable character. I loved the the idea from the books, you know, that she never dresses up quite enough for her mom. You know, Dolores is always wishing she would wear nicer outfits and better shoes and to not wear her jeans.

 And so I feel like that’s like a fun ongoing debate with her mother that’s super realistic, and that the audience really responds to.

And so stuff like that, I think is, is something from the very first script I read that I really enjoy, and from the books themselves, that the heart of it really comes from Joanne Fluke and her novels, and these characters are, you know, really, really well established by her,

Sammi: What’s it like taking a book character, bringing her to life, and make it into your own.

Ali: Well, like I said, it’s, you know, preserving the key parts of it, you know, the uncomfortable situations for Hannah, where she finds herself in a bit fish out of water, in in formal settings, or, you know, having to get dressed up for something she’s never quite wearing the right outfit, or it doesn’t fit her right, or stuff like that.

And then I think that you know, the other the big difficulty is how quickly technology is changing, and how much we as a society have, like, even just you and me talking right now on these like most of the books were written before iPhones.

 And so you have to incorporate DNA evidence and modern technology and nest cameras, you know, in a way that like no one ever considered in the beginnings of when she was writing these books. And that’s a lot like that you have to interweave into, especially for a murder mystery plot.

Sammi: What’s the difference between playing Hannah as a murder mystery sleuth and then being an iconic soap actress? So how do you go from one to another? Because they’re both such vastly different characters, but they’re both so incredibly amazing and strong.

Ali: They are totally different, and yet, in some ways, at the heart similar that they do have those feelings of insecurity, and they just handle it differently.

But it’s a lot of fun. I love these characters, both of them, for so many different reasons, and and, and in some ways the same, like I love going home to Days of Our Lives and the everyone I get to work with, and the crew that I’ve known since I was a little kid.

 And, you know, it’s just such a it’s just such a part of my life. And Hannah is starting to feel that way too. You know, 14 movies later, I feel like she and I have been through a lot together and gotten the opportunity to do so many fun adventures. But she’s a different she’s a different character and the audience really. To her differently, and so it’s fun. It’s fun to engage with that and to really stretch myself in a different way.

Sammi:  What’s one scene in this movie you’re most looking forward to everybody seeing, and why?

Ali: There’s so many little moments. But if I had to pick one. I’m really looking forward to the audience seeing Dolores on the witness stand. I loved that sequence. I loved writing it. I loved sitting here at my computer like figuring out how the dialog was going to go and like laughing, giggling to myself at Barbara, you know, the my imagination filling in the blanks of Barbara’s performance, and then she was so much better than even I imagined, and she was so great, you know, she was coming and talking to me in between takes, like, is this what you pictured?

 And I’m like, Barbara way better than I imagine you are so fantastic. And I just think it, it’s, it’s a great reflection of, you know, how far Dolores has come in, also 14 movies. So that’s a highlight for me.

Sammi: You do a lot, writing and acting, how do you do it all? How do you balance it all while making the movies?

Ali: Yeah, it’s a lot of balance. But the writing is fun, because I feel I know these characters so well, and I love murder mysteries. I love all those books. You know, I grew up my mom and I would watch Perry Mason together and Agatha Christie like those are, those are my favorite things to read when I was kid.

 And I was that fan who was trying to solve it along the way, you know, like trying to figure out the clues as the author was giving it out. And so I’m trying to honor that, the story and the the genre, in the same way that the greats did, and give the audience that same feeling.

Because, you know, we you can only reread those books so many times. You really want to, like, get invested in these new movies too, absolutely.

Sammi: If you could handle one adventure that hasn’t been written in the books. What would it be and why?

Ali: Well, you know, it’s funny you say that because I would love to do an adventure like that would be fun.

You know, it’s a slightly different genre from murder mysteries, and one of the things we talk about a lot in producing these and working with Joanne and the the network about Hannah Swenson is, you are in this small town, and it might be fun to see what else, how Hannah would handle something else, somewhere else, and what would that be like.

 And so, you know, we, I love trying to inspire Hallmark to want to make more of these movies along with the audience, when they respond and they give such great feedback on the movies and watch them again and again, that’s how we get to make more of them.

And so then, and then it’s my job to pitch them ideas of like something different they haven’t seen. So I would love to do something fun and adventurous with Hannah and and the gang, and see if maybe we couldn’t take them outside of their comfort zone.

Sammi: I’d love to see her, like, do some kind of spoof of  Real Housewives or something, going undercover, trying to deal with those ladies and being like, maybe their baker, or a friend of or something like that.

Ali: That’s a hilarious idea. I love that. You know, there is one we did do an episode because they had, Joanne had written a clever idea of in one of the books of a of a cooking celebrity coming to town, and she made, you know, an episode of her show, her cooking show in Hannah’s bakery, and we got a little hint of that.

But I love what you where you’re going with it. In fact, I do think there is that, that there isn’t a book.

 You know, I’ve read all the books, and then I have to reread them again every time I come up with a new idea, because, you know, they all blend together in my mind, and I have to refresh my memory, but there is one about that with an idea like that that’s pretty fun. I always worry that too much like TV within the TV.

I am not sure people love watching how TV is made, if you know what I mean, like I didn’t mind the commercial we shot, or, you know, this cooking thing, but I’m not. I wouldn’t want to do too much of it, because I feel like I don’t know that, that I don’t know that people love that.

Sammi: Which character in the Hannah movies would you say you relate to the most, and why?

Ali: I think I relate the most to like I would probably be Andrea. Yeah, in real life, I think Andrea is just trying, you know, she’s her mom’s, you know, pet, and she always dresses the right way and kind of like, follows the rules.

And she’s very good at solving the, you know, she’s good at her assignments when she’s participating in the mysteries, but she’s always quick to be like, why are we doing this, what’s happening, this is not a good idea. And then she gets her sister, you know, Hannah, drags her into another and she’s like, all in.

She’s totally, you know, great sister, and wants to help, but she’s always like, with one eye for like, this is probably not a great idea.