Why WHEN CALLS THE HEART’s Loretta Walsh Loves Acting
By Movieguide® Contributor
WHEN CALLS THE HEART star Loretta Walsh, who plays Florence Blakeley, is opening up about why she got into acting.
“Telling stories is an avenue for connection, for human connection, and actors are really, you know, that’s the deal, they get to connect not only with other actors but with their audience too,” Walsh told Edify Films.
“So, you know, we may not be solving the climate crisis or something, but I think that it is really valuable, and I just love actors in general,” she continued. “I just think that they’re usually very openhearted, fun, playful, collaborative people, and so I love to hang with that kind of energy.”
“I have been changed by it,” Walsh said of watching others act. “I run a small independent theater company, and I love, live theater, and I’m very passionate about it, but I’ve been to see live performances that I’ve walked out of and gone, ‘Oh my goodness I feel different.’
“I’ve had moments, you know, watching plays that I remember the moment where I was like, ‘Okay. I got to have a baby’ because of something that I had seen and felt in front of me,” she said. “I really think that it can be such an avenue for connection and change, personally and socially.”
Walsh recently had a show open in Vancouver called, “The Lifespan of a Fact.”
“Thank you to everyone who made our production of ‘The Lifespan of a Fact’ happen,” she wrote on her social media. “To our donors, sponsors, volunteers, cast, crew, designers, collaborators and our audience – thank you! We are so happy and grateful to you all.”
She’s been part of WHEN CALLS THE HEART since the beginning.
“When we first meet [Florence] she is incredibly prickly and tough-minded. Judgmental. She was really coming from a place of grief,” Walsh said of her character. However, as the show’s gone on, “it’s been a journey of healing. She has been on a journey to heal that loss and to heal that grief.”
“Over the years, she has been changed by Elizabeth. She has received the different ideas and lessons on love, forgiveness, vulnerability, and softness that Elizabeth has offered,” she explained.
Movieguide® previously reported on WHEN CALLS THE HEART:
WHEN CALLS THE HEART co-creator Brian Bird recently discussed the impact the show has on viewers and why he’s not afraid to tell stories that don’t always make the audience feel good.
“We think that it’s a good force in the world that this show is here,” Bird said during an interview with the Daily Planet. “In a culture [and] a world with so few shows that do what this show does, it would be horrible not to have it.”
He continued, “I love what we’ve done with the show. I love what the show is. We’re not perfect, but I think we’re pretty good at it. It truly is a show that had to struggle to survive, and the origin story of this show [is] harrowing…it was never really supposed to be here, but it is. The fact that there is now this massive community of people that call themselves Hearties and ten seasons plus of the show — for me, it’s like a big miracle, and I don’t take that for granted.”