The Hallmark Star Alison Sweeney Texts Every Day Isn't Who You'd Suspect — Exclusive Interview

Alison Sweeney is synonymous with Hallmark. Besides starring as Hannah Swensen in a series of food-based Hallmark movies, as well as Alex McPherson in "Chronicle Mysteries," Sweeney has also written and executive-produced several films. The former child actor has been in the business for decades and developed some strong friendships with her co-stars over the years — such as Kristian Alfonso, who she first starred with on "Days of Our Lives" before working again on a "Chronicle Mysteries" movie in 2021.

In a business that's always moving forward, it can be tough for co-stars to maintain a relationship after their project wraps. Future filming schedules conflict, family life takes over, or there simply isn't enough time in the day. However, that isn't the case for Sweeney; she's made the time for those most important to her despite her busy itinerary. In fact, she can't even pick just one favorite Hallmark co-star.

After a successful month that featured three Hallmark movie premieres, as well as championing Align Probiotics, Sweeney is on top of the world. She spoke with The List about all things Hallmark and shared some fun tidbits about her and her co-stars.

Are there any of your Hallmark co-stars who you regularly hang out with outside of work?

We all live in different parts of the world, so it's not always easy to hang out with, but Lacey Chabert and I are good friends, and I love having lunch with her. Ashley Williams and I just shot together in Barcelona for seven weeks, so we had some good downtime together. Mostly, it's just keeping up over the phone and through texts. Barbara Niven, who plays my mom on the Hannah Swensen series, she and I text each other almost every day and have such a cute, fun friendship.

Who is someone from the soap opera world you would love to work with on a future Hallmark project?

Oh my gosh. Well, that's such an open question because there are so many great people I would love to work with, and have such history with so many people on Daytime, so I feel like it would be even hard to choose. Chandler Massey does some movies with Hallmark, and I always have my eye out for a project that he and I could do together. That would be so fun, so I always think about him, and maybe even bringing someone new into the Hallmark world would be fun for me, too.

You had a big month for June with three fun movies: "To Barcelona, With Love;" "To Barcelona, Forever;" and "A Pie to Die For." Were there any setbacks during filming?

That kind of thing happens all the time, to be honest, but it was a funny situation when we were filming the "Barcelona" movies. We were out on the sea wall shooting this very important scene for the second movie where Erica and Anna are at odds with each other, and they reunite, and they realize what good friends they are. The first time we tried to shoot that scene, it was so beautiful when we arrived at the location, and it's right there on this beautiful edge of Spain where you're looking out over the Atlantic Ocean.

Then, I'm not kidding, within 10 minutes of setting up lights, this storm swell just came in, and the clouds started to darken, and then this wind picked up, and we were still trying to shoot the scene. My hair is literally hitting Ashley [Williams] in the face, and so we had to finally give up and stop the scene.

I think the [assistant director] was like, "It's not safe anymore." They were holding down the tents, and so we ended up having to reshoot it a different day, but it was so funny because I blamed Ashley. When we walked out there, she's like, "What a beautiful day." I was like, "Ashley, you jinxed us!"

What are some different challenges you've experienced working on Christmas Hallmark movies versus the mystery series?

Well, the Christmas movies are harder because it has to be Christmas, and when you're shooting those in July, which oftentimes happens, it is very difficult to make it look like Christmas. So, I have struggled with that mightily. The stories are fun. I love Christmas. I love doing it all year round; I don't have any problem with that. I just wish if we could shoot it in the winter, it would make everything so much easier. You get people to leave their Christmas decorations up another month, and you could shoot it in January or something like that.

As an executive producer on both "Barcelona" films, how did that make your experience working on those different versus just acting on a movie?

I'm normally executive producing the projects I work on now, but doing it overseas, doing such a big project like "Barcelona," and a two-parter like that, was a huge undertaking and took a lot of us who worked together on this to make it happen. Ashley [Williams] was an executive producer. My partner, Craig Baumgarten, produced with me, too, but you find yourself dealing with all sorts of different protocols. The way they shoot there, the way they take lunch breaks, it's just different, and you have to figure it out and get on board. We were really excited, and I was nervous, but it all worked out great, and we had a great cast and great crew and just really good people to help us along the way.

Was that your first time being in Barcelona?

I've been to Barcelona on vacation with my husband before. I think we've been two times, and we loved it, but it's my first time working there, which was a different task.

What's one Hallmark movie you wish you had gotten to star in?

My gosh. There was one Nikki DeLoach did [called "Taking the Reins"] about her and her grandfather. It's her personal story about riding horses, and I was so jealous. Like, I ride horses. I want to be in a horse movie! So, I promptly turned around and started working on making that happen for myself.

As you should. I saw you're very into horses, so I was surprised you hadn't done one yet.

I was like, "Wait a second. How come she gets to do that?" It's so funny.

On an Instagram post, you were listening to the podcast, "True Crime Garage." Do you listen to any other true crime podcasts?

Oh yeah, totally. I listen to them all, as many as I have time for, yes. I am still into the "Dateline" classics, so I follow "Dateline" on my podcast, and I still watch it on TV. Dave [Sanov, Sweeney's husband] is like, "Didn't you just... Aren't you already listening to it? You have to watch it?" I'm like, "Yeah, well, I need to see [everything]."

​​I also listen to "Undisclosed," which is a really great, smart podcast. I listen to "The Prosecutors," [and] I listen to "True Crime Junkie." You said "True Crime Garage." I love those guys. And "Generation Why" is a great podcast I listen to. Oh my gosh, I can go on with that.

When you're either reading or watching something, do you prefer the more gritty mystery stories or the cozy Hallmark mystery route?

No, no. For podcasts, it's weird, I know, and unsettling. Like "The Prosecutors" podcast? They're doing the West Memphis Three, and they go into all the nuts and bolts, and they get really graphic and then really specific about the law. I just find all of it really fascinating, just understanding what happened. Oftentimes, it's like what went wrong at the crime scene initially in the investigation and why they were in a swamp and all that. So, I just find it's not as much ... People always worry that like, "Oh, is this entertainment to you?" and I actually feel like it's not. I'm learning something, but I really like the ones that delve into the legal aspect of how they got that evidence and whether you can use it in court or not. All that is so interesting to me.

There are so many different types of probiotics out there. What made you choose Align Probiotics over all the others?

Well, first of all, it's the number one doctor-recommended probiotic, and I just think it's really important for us to be listening to our gut. I'm busy, I'm a mom, I'm an actor on set. I cannot run into trouble. It just keeps everything in check and helps me feel secure, like I'm doing what I need to do to keep my body healthy.

What's something you wish more people did know [about probiotics]?

I guess the number one thing is that your body is trying to tell you something, so there are signs, especially when sometimes you get bloating or you have gas occasionally. It is your body's way of trying to tell you that you got to check in on your gut health, and that's something I've been aware of for a long time through my whole career, that our bodies are trying to communicate with us and give us signs about what it needs. I think people get into the habit of whatever it is, the foods we're eating, or other things that they deal with after the fact, as opposed to this kind of probiotic, which is more on the preventative side. It's upfront, and I just think we need to do a better job of listening to our bodies.

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