Hallmark Channel is about to embark on a first for the network: A lesbian Christmas romantic comedy. Following on the success of last year’s first gay holiday film, “The Holiday Sitter,” out queer actors Ali Liebert and Humberly Gonzalez star in “Friends and Family Christmas” premiering Dec. 17. Liebert (“Bomb Girls” “One of Us is Lying”) plays Amelia, a strait-laced lawyer still smarting from a breakup with her girlfriend the year earlier. Gonzalez (“Ginny and Georgia” “Utopia Falls”) plays artist Daniella, who takes on too much and hasn’t made much room in her life for love. Pushed together on a blind date by their parents, the two embark on a ruse to convince their friends and families that they are dating, to take the heat off during the holidays.
News is Out spoke with Liebert and Gonzalez about their roles in the groundbreaking holiday film, being out in the industry and changing things for the better from within.
Contains mild spoilers.
News is Out: First question: the gloves. Is that a nod to “Carol?” Please tell me it’s a nod to “Carol” because it has to be.
Ali Liebert: I mean, I think it has to be. That feels like it’s for us, right? I’m not sure other people will get that, but that feels like it’s for us.
NIO: It felt like the nicest, queerest Easter egg.
Hallmark the place to go for holiday movies. The network has been adding in LGBTQ+ characters over the years. But you two are the first lesbian romantic leads. That is huge.
What has this meant to you as actors and as members of the LGBTQ+ community?
Ali Liebert: Dana, you know, I’ve been wanting – and I’ve been stating it on Twitter for at least five years – waiting for the moment when there was a holiday movie for the lesbians. And that I was praying that Hallmark would put me in it. For me, it’s been a really nice bow tie to my wish. Because I think that we deserve to be represented in all types of media, including holiday movies. For me, it was really meaningful and I felt really lucky that so many of the team were queer and that our leading lady, this wonderful woman right here, we were the perfect people to do it. I feel really honored. And it’s meaningful to me because I’ve just wanted this to happen for a really long time.
Humberly Gonzalez: Yes. I mean, I had never been a lead in a Hallmark film, and I think it’s such a rite of passage for actors, especially in Canada, because they film so many of these. To be honest, I never really went out for those roles. So, the fact that this was like a straight offer, and they actually considered me because of the track record I have of portraying queer people on screen that they thought that I would be the right person to lead this first of many, I hope.
It’s honestly an honor and not just because of that. It’s like me being an immigrant and being ESL (English as a second language) and a woman of color, and coming out later in life and kind of discovering myself through the industry. It’s such a cherry on top of the journey of playing queer roles.
And getting to bring my culture into it. It’s also such a beautiful thing, because there is so much homophobia and transphobia back home. It’s something that I grew up around and was very fearful that, you know, I was going to be excommunicated from everything if I followed this path. And to be met with so much love has been shocking. I’ve had to rewire my brain to be like, “oh, I can accept this support and accept this love” even from my parents. I love that with the movies and the content that people turn to for comfort during the holidays, that this can exist within that world, that it is just this beautiful love story. And it can be queer, and it can be comforting and it doesn’t have to be about struggling. I’m very excited that this is like the first.
I love that with the movies and the content that people turn to for comfort during the holidays, that this can exist within that world, that it is just this beautiful love story.
Humberly Gonzalez
NIOt: Ali, I want to go back to you for a second, because I know how hard you’ve been working these last few years to bring more LGBTQ+ representation to the screen as a director, as an actor and as a producer. You’re an executive producer on this film. And what has your experience been like working in front of and behind the scenes to help make this happen?
Ali Liebert: Yeah, I mean, I definitely think with “The Holiday Sitter” last year that I directed, starring our beloved Jonathan Bennett and George Krissa, I think that was the beginning of my role as a creative, as part of this. There were a lot of eyes on “The Holiday Sitter” in terms of bringing that story that was the first same-sex couple for Hallmark. And it was embraced internationally. We got nominated for a GLAAD Award, which was incredible. And Hallmark really celebrated and promoted that film. So, I think Hallmark’s commitment to increase queer representation is just like, to echo what Humberly said. it’s blossoming. And as a queer creative, it feels really good to be working within the network. Because Hallmark is the destination for holiday movies.
NIO: It’s Christmas. It’s the holidays.
Ali Liebert: Right? And I just get so emotional thinking that all across the world these movies, especially ones that have underrepresented communities, can be inside people’s living rooms, changing hearts and minds. And it’s a little Christmas movie, right?
I think it has a great potential to bring love and acceptance to a broader scope of humans. So, being able to be an executive producer or director, or whatever the case may be, it just means I get to contribute in a meaningful way, which is something I’ve been trying to do the last couple of years as I’ve focused more on the creator part of it.
Humberly Gonzalez: It’s like, who in their living room somewhere in Middle America, is going to be watching this and it’s going to change their perspective about a family member or a friend because they didn’t expect it. A lot of people, they have them playing all day long and what if they catch a glimpse and suddenly they’re enjoying it? And they didn’t think they would. So, it’s like normalizing all of that, and having it be just a part of “The countdown to Christmas,” it’s pretty cool.
NIO: And now you two are part of that history.
Ali Liebert: It’s so amazing. I definitely don’t think we take the responsibility lightly. We are the first ladies of Hallmark. I played a lesbian in “Every Time a Bell Rings” which was a couple of years ago so I feel like we’ve been warming up and we’ve just been waiting for Humberly and I to take the main stage and now we’re here. I’m very excited for people to see it. It also has my favorite rom-com trope…
NIO: The fake dating trope! We love it almost as much as “they were roommates.” There’s a slow burn. I hope people who are reading this understand. You guys have a really good example of slow burn romance in this particular film. I thought it was super successful. What do you think makes these two very different characters such a good, if perhaps unorthodox, match for each other?
Humberly Gonzalez: Well, I feel like Daniella is looking for inspiration and stability. She’s out there being like, “I want to be an artist and I’m going to move to New York and start over.” And you know she’s heartbroken and struggling. There’s almost this,“I have nothing to lose kind of feeling,” and meeting Amelia, it’s like, “wow, you kind of have it all together.”
Internally, I had this thing where I was like, “oh, that works for me.” But also, I kind of want to be more like her. And the love sneaks in, because I think when there’s admiration or inspiration for another human, I think that’s a perfect recipe for love.
Even if they’re so different, there’s just this curiosity about why are you so tough on yourself? There’s like this love-hate relationship. And I feel like you get glimpses of that when they meet, which is why it makes it that opposites attract kind of feeling.
Ali Liebert: I agree with everything you said. I do agree with you, it’s a slow burn. Daniella is this fascinating, wild artist and we always want to see our characters having some growth, obviously. And I think that they offer each other respect and a little bit of safety and joy and going out of our comfort zones. I think it is a slow burn because they don’t actually realize how much they mean to each other until quite late.
Humberly Gonzalez: I was like, are they even gonna…? When it comes to Ali and I, we were shooting our first scene. I’m pretty sure someone was like, “can you guys not like each other so much and not have so much chemistry, because you’re not supposed to know.” And we were like, “Oh, shoot!” Yeah, we have to act and dial it back because Ali and I wanted to lean into it, cause we met, and very naturally we had good chemistry. But that makes me laugh a lot, cause it’s like, all right, we have to ignore our natural instinct and pretend like we feel nothing or something, you know?
Ali Liebert: Cause obviously, we shoot these movies out of order. One day I would love to shoot a movie just like beginning to end. But also, sometimes people just have a general flow, and I genuinely think Humberly is so funny and cute that it was hard for me to sort of be like the uptight lawyer.
Humberly Gonzalez: We laughed a lot which was really fun. And then we were like, “Oh, wait! Remember who we actually are in the movie,” though, because it was like a trap we’re gonna fall into.
Ali Liebert: Our director Anne Wheeler, who I met on “Bomb Girls,” I’ve known her for so long. But she really let us play, and so we were always improving little things that we found funny, which I think comes across as well.
NIO: I like to ask this to all LGBTQ+ actors that I talk to because I think it’s really telling about how the industry is progressing. How have you seen your industry change from when you first started out to where you are now, as out queer actors, when it comes to representation?
Humberly Gonzalez: Well, I haven’t been acting for that long. It’s been seven years professionally. But even within that time, I can relate it to my own journey. I never thought I would play queer roles on screen. I thought I would fit into a very specific mold, where people just thought I was pretty and played into Latina roles. I didn’t know I was made for leading lady material, because of all the categories I fit into, being all the things that I am. But it naturally kind of just found me. The camera just kind of knew and I kept booking these roles that were pushing my own boundaries and bringing me out of my comfort zone. Which eventually allowed me to get closer to who I am because I didn’t publicly come out until “Ginny and Georgia” premiered, and I had already played two major queer roles in the industry, “In the Dark” and “Utopia Falls.” I just wasn’t ready or thought that there wasn’t room for me. Maybe I wasn’t queer enough or enough of something to have any say in the industry.
It was a surprise to myself that I realized that the industry needed me as much as I needed it. It was kind of like a mutual growth, where I was able to show up authentically in a way that I never thought I would, and it really did save me in the best way. I’m glad that it grew and there was a push for it, because I don’t know that I would have ever been able to be who I am today without it.
NIO: That’s beautiful.
Ali Liebert: I wasn’t aware of my queerness. I was also playing a lot of queer and lesbian roles, and it was like the universe was like, “Do you understand?” It wasn’t really until I had finished “Bomb Girls” when it hit me. I was really scared to come out, even though I had been playing queer for years.
To see the difference in the last decade or so, is also tied to how comfortable I feel in my own skin. I feel really privileged that I’m able to represent queer people and tell queer stories in film and TV and be someone who is out and proud. I also understand that that’s not the case for folks everywhere. So, I do take it with responsibility and privilege and think it’s an honor.
And I still think we have a long way to go, like Humberly said earlier, in terms of trans representation and different types of queerness. I’d love to see more characters that are just somewhere on the gender spectrum. I obviously don’t speak for Hallmark, but just in the shows I like to watch, I like to see the world that I want to be in, that has every different type of person you can imagine.
Being a part of the change hopefully for more inclusion and diversity is something that’s really important to me as a director, actor and just a person in the world.
I feel really privileged that I’m able to represent queer people and tell queer stories in film and TV and be someone who is out and proud.
Ali Liebert
NIO: I remember when Ali came out. I remember seeing you, even before you came out and during that process. And seeing where you are today, it’s just really cool and I’m super proud of both of you.
Alright, final question, super serious. What’s your favorite holiday movie?
Ali Liebert: “A Friends and Family Christmas.”
Humberly Gonzalez: (laughs) You would! It’s my favorite, and it hasn’t even come out yet! I mean, I love “Love, Actually: a lot. It’s so cute.
Ali Liebert: Have you watched it recently, though?
Humberly Gonzalez: Maybe not recently.
NIO: It doesn’t hold up quite as well.
Humberly Gonzalez: I gotta get some new ones. To be honest, I didn’t grow up watching Christmas movies. It’s not a thing in Venezuela. I never even saw snow until I was 15 years old! It’s such a new world for me with Santa Claus. We don’t really have that. We have baby Jesus. That’s who brings presents. And we have Los Tres… I don’t know what they are called in English.
NIO: Oh, the Wise Men.
Humberly Gonzalez: We have the Wise Men and that’s like Jan. 3 and they put gifts in your boots. Our traditions are so different. Watching Christmas movies, I was like, what is happening? But honestly, anything that has family and friends involved, like feel-good Christmas. I watched “Fred Claus” last night. Great! Vince Vaughn, and it’s about Santa Claus’s brother and the fact that you’re outshined by your brother being Santa Claus. I thought it was brilliant.
Ali Liebert: I would say, “Home Alone.” I’m seeing it soon with the Vancouver Symphony.
“Friends and Family Christmas” premieres on Hallmark Channel Dec. 17 8:00 p.m. ET. Catch it on-demand following the premiere.
