Hallmark movies are incredibly popular for a reason. Not only do you know that they will end with happily ever after, but you always feel warm and fuzzy inside watching the fictional love stories unfold. For one Hallmark actress, Taylor Cole, the Hallmark Channel features her in tons of their popular movies which gave her the opportunity to live out her own real-life love story that started on one of their sets.
Taylor Cole grew up in Arlington, Texas (just outside of Dallas) and was a talented athlete in high school. She traveled the country playing volleyball with the junior Olympics before she moved to New York to pursue a modeling career. It wasn't until she visited her mother and stepfather, actor Shawn Christian, in Los Angeles that she considered a career in acting. She landed herself the role of Erika Spalding on the WB series Summerland and officially moved out to California.
It was clear that Cole had a knack for acting for the very beginning and roles on numerous TV shows followed -- Supernatural, Numb3rs, CSI: Miami, Heroes, Melrose Place, NCIS, The Event, Hawaii Five-0, The Glades, Two and a Half Men, and more. She's also appeared in numerous films over the years including April Fool's Day, Bad Blood, Dumbbells, and The Violent Kind. But what she's best known for is being one of the most recognizable faces on the Hallmark Channel in recent years.
Cole first got her start on Hallmark in Appetite for Love in 2016 and was immediately hooked to the feel-good network. She told the PC Principle that she pretty much accepts every Hallmark script because she knows it's going to be great.
"Well, I have to say that most every Hallmark movie that gets sent my way, I almost immediately know that I want to do it because of the joy it brings everybody and you know it's going to be a happy story. As an actor, you know you aren't going to read something that is horrific or something that won't offend anyone and you know you are going to make people happy."
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She adds that it makes sense that Hallmark continues to grow and grow in viewership every year because people genuinely love the content they are tuning in for.
"I think that there is just a simple comfort with Hallmark movies. You can have it on running all day and you don't have to sit down and commit to a series. It's one movie and it's short and sweet and it's all tied up at the end. You are going to get a happy and tingly feeling and I think America needs that right now.
I think with other networks and television shows, they are trying to push the limit with the drama and are so much focused on the negative, that having an entire network which is dedicated to positivity is really refreshing for viewers."
Cole has appeared in numerous films for the network including The Art of Us, My Summer Prince, Christmas In Homestead, Christmas Festival of Ice, One Winter Weekend, Falling For You, One Winter Proposal, and Unlocking Christmas. She is also the star of the Ruby Herring Mysteries on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries -- Ruby Herring Mysteries: Silent Witness, Ruby Herring Mysteries: Her Last Breath, and Ruby Herring Mysteries: Prediction Murder. Potentially the biggest highlight for Cole is that working on Hallmark films allowed her to meet her husband, producer Cameron Larson, on the set of Matching Hearts.
"We were friends for several years before dating and I even tried playing matchmaker with Cam, attempting to set him up with a few friends of mine," she told People. "Luckily, similar to the movie, none of the matches worked and we both realized we were perfect for each other."
The couple tied the knot in 2020 in a small ceremony in Lake Tahoe, California. They had to make the ceremony way smaller than anticipated due to the coronavirus pandemic, but it ended up being a special day regardless.
"We made the best of it, and it really turned out to be the perfect day -- our own Hallmark version of love in the time of COVID," Cole explained to ExtraTV. "We couldn't be happier and we can't wait to celebrate with our family and friends when it's safe to do so again."
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