Rachael Leigh Cook loves love.
During a recent interview, the actress opened up about fully embracing her love of the romantic comedy genre, and why working with the Hallmark Channel felt “empowering” in the way it helped ignite her passion for storytelling. Cook admitted, however, that she had some reservations about stepping into the world of Hallmark movies, but after finally taking the leap, the experience ended up changing her perspective in a major way, both personally and creatively.
Why Cook Initially Resisted Working for Hallmark Channel
Cook credited the Hallmark Channel with her pivot into “producing in earnest” during an appearance on the I Love You So Much Podcast ILYSM.
When she first started working for the network, the actress admitted that she didn’t know how the experience was going to go because of a disagreement she had with ex-husband Daniel Gillies. “One disagreement Daniel, my ex-husband, and I always had was, he was like, ‘You can’t handle challenging content.’ And I was like, ‘That’s not true,'” Cook explained. “That was 100% true, Daniel. You win. I’m still upset about this movie I saw that’s about a Japanese little boy who drowns in a bathtub. Like, I can still think about it and cry. I cannot handle challenging content.”
She continued, “So, my resistance to working for the Hallmark Channel was that I thought it was like, a little bit too soft. Like, it was sort of playing into my fears that I had about myself.”
“And then I was just like, ‘Nah, screw it. This is who I am. I’m a huge cornball and I love love,'” she said.
Cook then explained how the creative freedom that the network allows their actors ultimately led her down a path of wanting to tell stories herself.
“And so I went and I worked for them, and they’re so supportive of women, of their actors, and they’re honestly just doing so much that they don’t, like, handcuff you to the words and the punctuation and all of this stuff. They really give you a lot of creative freedom. So that was really empowering. So that sort of set me on a journey of, you know, wanting to tell stories. And I’ve always been so earnestly enthusiastic about the romantic comedy genre. I drink that Kool-Aid all day. I make it in my kitchen. It’s in my veins,” Cook said.
The actress has now been starring in Hallmark movies for over 10 years now, and she has gone on to serve as an executive producer on a number of them.
Cook Has Now Starred In & Produced Several Hallmark Movies
Cook has been producing movies since 2001, marking her debut with the film “Tangled,” which she starred in alongside Shawn Hatosy and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, according to her credits listed on IMDb. She started a production company named “Ben’s Sister Productions” as a tribute to her younger brother Ben.
“About 20 years ago I named my production company Ben’s Sister Productions as a small way to honor my younger brother Ben – who, despite being the smartest & most capable person in our family – was getting less attention than I was as my career began,” Cook wrote in the caption of her September 15, 2022 Instagram post. I now embrace the irony that it will forever appear I’m attempting to ride Ben’s coattails, because there is no better coat. No better human. No better friend, father, producer – you name it. You work so hard, B. I wish there was another word other than ‘proud’ but that’s all I got. You’re still the smart one. Love you, Bean. Rooting for you always ❤️r.”
Cook has acted as an executive producer on numerous Hallmark and television films, including “Autumn in the Vineyard” from 2016, “Frozen in Love” from 2018, and “Rescuing Christmas” from 2023. In 2020, she produced and starred in the hit Netflix romantic comedy “Love, Guaranteed.”
