Susan Gallagher Dishes on Hallmark's 'A Taste of Love' + Creating Her Own Destiny As An Actress (EXCLUSIVE)
In the dead of winter, there's nothing quite like the allure of a warm, summer breeze — and once again, Hallmark manages to deliver exactly what it is we're looking for at just the right time. On Monday, February 19 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, tune into the Hallmark Channel's newest original film, A Taste of Love, for a dose of culinary themed comfort against the backdrop of picturesque Dunedin, Florida. Starring none other than Hallmark sweetheart Erin Cahill alongside Jesse Cove, Martin Cove, Tymberlee Hill and Susan Gallagher you won't want to miss this warm hug of a Hallmark film.
FIRST for Women caught up with Susan Gallagher, who plays Patty Rider, Cahill's mother, in the movie to get a glimpse into the channel's newest rom-com, as well as a few words of wisdom from the matriarch of A Taste of Love.
What is A Taste of Love about?
A Taste of Love stars Erin Cahill as Taylor, the host of a cooking show called Quick, Easy and Delicious – but Taylor feels stifled. When her pitch to her network for a new show that aligns more with her culinary vision goes sour, she returns to her hometown of sunny Dunedin, Florida.
It's there where she's reunited with her mom (Susan Gallagher), dad (Martin Cove) and childhood sweetheart Jacob (Jesse Cove). Her trip home, however, isn't as sunny as she'd imagined it'd be. Her parents soon reveal that their family restaurant is up for sale. Hoping to save the restaurant, Taylor enters she and her father into the annual cooking competition within their community. All the while, Taylor must figure out what the next steps are going to be for her future.
Related: Erin Cahill: Our 10 Favorite Hallmark Movies Featuring the Lovely Leading Lady
Susan Gallagher dishes on her breakout Hallmark role
?2024 Hallmark Media/Photographer: Courtesy Digital Caviar
While Susan Gallagher is no stranger to playing mom and wife (it's a part she's familiar with off-screen as well!), her most recent and celebrated parts have been far from the sweet and maternal one we see her playing in A Taste of Love.
You just might recognize her for her hilarious portrayal of Lynn, the sassy, smart-mouthed homeless woman who lives outside the dojo in Netflix's Cobra Kai. Or perhaps you saw her channel that same fierceness in Marvel's Loki television series on Disney+, where she plays the Lamentian Homesteader — and for only appearing in a single episode of the series, she managed to not only hold her own, but make an unforgettable impression.
With A Taste of Love, she was happy to return to a different scene after channeling such toughness.
"You know, I’ve always loved Hallmark movies and can binge watch with the best of them," she joked with FIRST. "I knew it was going to have a happy ending, cause I’ve played a lot of character type roles, and not too many sweet, normal, mom roles. Because I was originally put in that box as an actor, so I had to get out of that box, so it was really nice to come back to what I really am which is a mother and a wife. I loved it. I thought it was great."
Gallagher dishes behind-the-scenes secrets
Most Hallmark actors and actresses tell tales of movie-filming-madness. Many share stories of shooting winter-wonderland Christmas films in the dead of summer, bundled in layers upon layers in the blaring heat. For the Taste of Love cast, the Florida sun was nothing they couldn't handle.
"We endured the humidity and the heat, sweated a little bit, but the hair and makeup department was so wonderful," Gallagher shared. As far as the town itself, the production of this movie was a city-wide affair.
"The city of Dunedin looks like a backdrop to a Hallmark movie. It’s so charming and so sweet and the residents just all got involved," Susan revealed. "Everybody from the businesses to the city of Dunedin to their film festival, which we just enjoyed over the weekend, all four of us with packed houses and stuff, we just could not have had a better experience and I think that everybody’s gonna fall in love with Dunedin, not only the movie, A Taste of Love, but with where it was shot and the warmth and the energy that came from that beautiful town."
With these frigid winter months upon us, there's no doubt a sunny Florida setting like that of this film won't pull us in!
Cobra Kai meets Hallmark
?2024 Hallmark Media/Photographer: Courtesy Digital Caviar
Susan Gallagher, Martin Cove and Jesse Cove didn't need much of an introduction to one another when joining each other on the set of A Taste of Love.
On one hand, Martin and Jesse are father and son. On the other hand, all three actors have Cobra Kai roots. However, when it came to A Taste of Love, their characters could not be more different from the ones they play on the martial arts comedy. For Susan, making that transition to a character so different from the ones she has grown familiar with was made a bit easier when she watched her Cobra Kai co-stars do the same.
"Martin is a wonderful father and he and Jesse could not be any closer, so that was a special kind of experience to see people who you think are one way because that’s the character that they play, to see how they really are. So it helped me, I think, to relax," Susan explained. "There was a certain ease between Marty and I and our characters because he’s got that family man element to him and I certainly do, I mean motherhood has been my greatest joy."
Susan gushed how the entire crew of actors meshed together so seamlessly. "And then of course Erin is so loving and so open and generous that it was just a wonderful dynamic between us four, and I think that we’ll be in touch and close to each other always because of that."
Susan Gallagher is putting in the work
While we can't wait to see what's next for her on-screen, Susan's work off the screen is just as impressive — and serves as inspiration for other women as well. In 2014, Gallagher started her own production company called Her Little Red Productions, "a female run production company focusing on female driven projects," as stated on their official website. For Susan, this came from a place of desire to take things into her own hands.
"It was about 2014 and I was starting to age out of everything and I got tired of waiting for my agent to call, for that phone to ring." She continued, "And some of my friends were shooting some short films and picking up the camera a little bit, and they didn’t have a degree from NYU or Southern Cal, and I just finally got to a place where I wasn’t afraid to fail, and you know, just comfortable enough in my own skin to take more risks."
This endeavor has taken Susan to new heights, all because she had the courage to take a chance on herself. And for other women looking to take charge of their life and go after their goals as well, Susan's greatest piece of advice is to "learn to have the courage to be honest with yourself and if you can’t be honest with yourself, ask some trusted people. Talk to some trusted people and listen to their opinions, and then little by little try to change and improve because I do feel like we grow or we go." She continued, "So whether it’s in my career, or in motherhood, or with my husband or my friends or my job, I’m just trying to be the best person that I can be because life is short!"
Don't miss Susan alongside Erin Cahill, Martin Cove and Jesse Cove in A Taste of Love, out Monday, February 19 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the Hallmark Channel!
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