- 17 hours ago
dHe's one of Netflix's most beloved characters--playing bad-boy heartthrob Brady on the platform's longest-running and most-streamed original series, Virgin River . Now, Benjamin Hollingsworth is stepping into a new role, starring alongside Kelsey Grammer and Jana Kramer in the festive film adaptation of Karen Kingsbury's newest novel, The Christmas Ring . He sat down with LifeMinute editor-in-chief Joann Butler last week, to share all the deets, and more.
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00:00Hi there, I'm Benjamin Hollingsworth, and you're watching Life Minute TV.
00:03He's one of Netflix's most beloved characters, playing bad boy heartthrob Brady on Virgin River.
00:10Now, Benjamin Hollingsworth is starring in the film adaptation of Karen Kingsbury's latest novel, The Christmas Ring.
00:16He stopped by the Life Minute studios last week to tell me all about it and more.
00:21This is a Life Minute with Benjamin Hollingsworth.
00:25I hope you hear about your ring.
00:27Well, then it would be the perfect Christmas.
00:32Yeah.
00:38Definitely a vintage bell.
00:41Benjamin Hollingsworth in the house.
00:43Welcome to Life Minute.
00:45Thanks for having me.
00:46So happy you're here.
00:47Very happy to be here.
00:48So, new feature adaptation of The Christmas Ring.
00:52Yes.
00:53Tell us about it.
00:54Well, Karen Kingsbury, she wrote The Christmas Ring, like, this spring.
00:59And then in, like, the most ambitious attempt to do a movie at the same time, they adopted the script while writing the book.
01:08And then we shot the movie this summer, and then three months later, it comes out.
01:14So, it was the shortest turnaround I've ever been a part of.
01:17We shot it in Franklin, Tennessee, just outside Nashville.
01:20And I knew it was hot in Nashville.
01:25I didn't know it was that hot.
01:26And I certainly didn't know that being in winter Christmas clothing during the summer was going to be so difficult, but I had a wonderful time.
01:36Oh, yeah, I bet.
01:37I didn't even think of that, right?
01:39Well, tell us about the story for those of us who don't know.
01:41It's a beautiful love story.
01:43It's a story that intertwines a lot of themes.
01:47It's got depth to it, but it also has that Christmas spirit, which that duality really, it makes it this timeless love story, you know?
01:55And the fact that it takes place over Christmas, it's about people rediscovering love.
02:00It's about reconciliation.
02:02Yeah, I think it's a throwback to kind of some of the 90s, early 2000s, the Christmas movies or the rom-coms that are, you know, they're just all the different feels, but they do have some complex themes to it.
02:13So, it's meant to be seen in theaters.
02:15It's good for kids.
02:16It's good for parents.
02:17It's good for grandparents, which is rare, too, nowadays.
02:21So, it's something for the whole family to watch.
02:24And Karen's such a sweetheart.
02:25I interviewed her when someone like you came out, I guess, a couple years ago.
02:29Yeah.
02:29I love how she's bringing, you know, Christmas back.
02:33Totally.
02:34She's, honestly, this is one of the kindest, calmest sets I've ever been a part of.
02:39I've been doing it for 20 years now.
02:42And having a calm set is one of the most luxurious things as an actor because myself especially, I have ADHD.
02:50So, like, when things are calm and quiet, like, I'm able to focus a little bit more.
02:55And it's all coming from Karen.
02:56And she's kind, compassionate, she leads with her heart, and, like, that's contagious, and it trickles down onto her set.
03:03Oh, that's nice.
03:05And tell us about your role and your character.
03:07I play Ben Miller.
03:08He is an antique dealer.
03:10He owns an antique store in Georgia with his dad, played by Kelsey Grammer.
03:15You know, he's dealing with the loss of his wife about three years earlier.
03:20You know, he didn't think he'd ever find love again.
03:22He shared that with his dad.
03:24After losing someone so close to you, opening your heart up for love again is something you'd never even really consider.
03:29Until he met Vanessa, played by Jana Kramer, who's fantastic in the movie, and a wonderful person.
03:37And we got along right away.
03:39And so the sparks kind of hit between Ben Miller and Vanessa.
03:43And the one thing they shared was that they were both widows.
03:48Vanessa had lost her husband overseas.
03:50He was in the military.
03:52And so she was a Gold Star widow.
03:55And just having that shared connection of loss really helped, I think, find love again between them.
04:02And it happening over Christmas, again, you know, Christmas kind of brings out that energy of reconciliation, that renewal of hope.
04:12And so they connect, and then they've got to find a ring.
04:16This is my ring.
04:17I'm selling it.
04:18End of story.
04:19Dad, listen, can we please just at least go inside?
04:21Enough!
04:23Then go home.
04:25Got a lot to do tomorrow.
04:27What was it like working with Kelsey?
04:29An icon, right?
04:30Like growing up in the 90s, oh, he's so great and talented and grounded.
04:37He really brings out the best performance in people because when you have someone like him who's been doing it for so long,
04:44he brings this depth and this calmness.
04:47And it was an absolute pleasure acting across from him.
04:50He's got this quiet, sort of grounded authority to him as well, which played perfectly as a father figure.
04:58I will admit it was, it always is when you're working with a legend.
05:03It takes a little getting used to acting with because you're so used to seeing them on TV, right?
05:09And especially, you know, Kelsey playing Frasier for so long and just so iconic.
05:15When I was looking at him for the first, you know, day, you know, he's playing my dad and there was something really interesting because I felt like I'd known him.
05:25You know what I mean?
05:25Yeah.
05:26So it really did have that quality of the father-son relationship right off the bat.
05:30That's so cool.
05:31Yeah.
05:31Awesome.
05:33How do you channel your characters?
05:35I find each character has their own unique challenge to find your way in.
05:41For me, this one, because he was an antique dealer, he also had this love of poetry.
05:47And that's something that we shared.
05:48I have this great appreciation for history.
05:52And so that I used to navigate into the antique dealer part, but also the poetry, something that growing up for me, I was never a big reader of novels because I have ADHD.
06:05So I couldn't have the patience to get through a full novel.
06:08But poems opened up a world for me that were, that was just as, if not more enriching.
06:14And so I was, his, my character's favorite poet was Walt Whitman.
06:19So I bought a bunch of Walt Whitman and I started reading Walt again and such a fantastic poet.
06:27And so I started every day, I'd pull, you know, parts of, of the poetry and I'd try and work it into the script or work it into where I was emotionally in the scene.
06:37But each character is unique.
06:38You know, I, I'd use a different approach for each one, but that's how I got into Ben Miller.
06:42Oh, that's so cool.
06:43Did you always know you wanted to act?
06:45Yes.
06:46Yes.
06:46From a very early age.
06:48My sister was into acting as well.
06:51And my father had been doing it like, you know, regionally, not professionally.
06:56And he had done it since he was in high school.
06:59So I grew up watching him on stage and having my sister direct me in the living room plays that you do with your, your siblings.
07:05So I was good at taking direction from an early age, but I didn't start doing it professionally until I'd gone through theater school.
07:13I went to the National Theater School for three years, conservatory.
07:16I really, my dad also really thought it was important that I learn the craft of it first.
07:21And I'm so grateful for him for that because longevity in this industry is so hard to achieve.
07:26But if you have the training and the background, it's the work, right?
07:30It's about the quality of the work you do.
07:32And if you're able to find that sense of depth and, like I said, I approach everything different only because I've had that background of utilizing different techniques to get into characters.
07:47And so I'm very, very thankful that I did do that.
07:49That's so cool.
07:51You said you had ADHD.
07:52When did you discover that?
07:54Yes.
07:54Not long ago.
07:55My son actually was diagnosed when he was six or five.
08:01And so he's nine now, so about four years ago, and really opened my eyes to the whole thing.
08:09It's something I grew up with my entire life.
08:11I was diagnosed with having a learning disability when I was young, but didn't quite understand what that was.
08:16And then when my son was diagnosed, I heard all of the stuff and I was like, this is me.
08:22This is totally everything that I've been struggling with for my life.
08:27And it's been something that now being aware of it, I'm able to come up with little techniques and understanding some things have to battle.
08:35So I've been able to give myself the right arena to succeed and the right space to succeed and to give my wife the right, the understanding that I'm, I'm not just late all the time because, you know, I'm unable to, to, or I don't want to get places on time.
08:52But time blindness is one thing and, you know, impulsivity is another thing.
08:58Part of time blindness is because you live in the moment.
09:00And as an actor, that's a bit of a gift.
09:03And same with impulsivity.
09:04You want to follow your impulses.
09:06So along with learning that I had ADHD, I also learned that this is part of my superpower.
09:11And it's, that's what I'm teaching my son too, that it's not a disability.
09:14It's actually a superpower if you learn how to harness it.
09:17Absolutely.
09:18I love that.
09:19There's so many creative genius.
09:21Yes.
09:22I mean, there's so many actors, so many artists, so many CEOs because you think outside the box and, you know, the ability to see something in ways that a lot of people don't.
09:32And it's not that you can't focus.
09:34It's that you can't, you have trouble focusing on things that don't interest you.
09:38And if something interests you, you're able to hyper focus in a way that a lot of people can't.
09:43And so I find myself when I'm engaged in a scene and it's challenging for me, it's so easy and rewarding.
09:48And I feel so fulfilled because I'm able to focus all my energy on that one thing.
09:53It's when I'm in the background of a scene or the, you know, there is maybe a simple scene.
09:59It's a lot harder for me to like kind of focus in on.
10:02But the bigger the challenge, the more at stake, the more everything's on the line, the more pressure, the more stress, the more focused I become.
10:09That's so cool.
10:10Yeah.
10:10I love that.
10:11Like what's an example of a scene where you're like in the back, like what happens?
10:15Okay.
10:16So I did this series called Code Black.
10:18It was a medical drama on CBS.
10:19It had this great cast, Marsha Gay Harden, Louie Guzman, Rob Lowe, fantastic actors.
10:26And, but the way it was set up was all these, I was a resident doctor.
10:30And so all the resident students were taught by the attending, which was Marsha Gay Harden.
10:35But they, in order to do that, it was set in LA County.
10:37They had to have all of the most critical, the sickest patients all lined up for beds.
10:44So we do these scenes and there'd be eight actors and the way they would shoot it would, they'd send focus to the first bed and then they'd pull focus back to the fourth bed and then they'd send it to the second bed.
10:55And each scene would happen and overlapping each other.
10:59Well, when you were in the background of one shot, you still had to be saving someone's life, right?
11:04And then be fully engaged for eight hours.
11:07And you may say one line, you know, you got it over there.
11:10Yeah, I got it.
11:10And then the other day it would be all you and you're on for all, you know, 12 hours.
11:15And it was those 12-hour days where I was on that I was able to focus better than, you know, saying the one line in the background.
11:22That's so cool.
11:23Yeah.
11:23Great description.
11:25That must be why you're so good at Virgin River.
11:28I've loved you since the moment I met you.
11:30I knew in the first 10 seconds that you were the one for me.
11:35I was never the question.
11:37The only question was whether or not I was the one for you.
11:40When's it coming back?
11:41Oh, it'll be back 2026, sometime in, like, spring, late winter or spring-ish.
11:48I can't say officially yet, but I hear that that's the plan.
11:52I'm just as anxious as everyone else.
11:54It's been a long time that it's been waiting for the new season.
11:57I'm just, I'm very excited to see what everyone thinks of what we've been hard at work with.
12:02Oh, you're so good in it.
12:03And like I said before, such a trademark of a good actor that you can, you know, hate you one minute and love you in the next episode.
12:10Yes, yes.
12:11Really, truly.
12:12Brady's been on a journey.
12:14Yeah.
12:14Yeah.
12:14I mean, how do you channel him?
12:16Well, for me, because he's always been an outsider and has had this past that, I grew up in a very loving family.
12:26And I had the benefit of having parents who supported me and wonderful siblings, and we were very much a tight family.
12:35And Brady didn't have that.
12:36And so for me to tap into what that was like, I had to tap into kind of my high school experience, where I wasn't as part of the main group of popular students, that I was, you know, a bit misunderstood.
12:51I was still struggling with my learning disability and my ADHD, and I very much felt like an outsider.
12:58And because of that challenge of having ADHD and trying to succeed in school, that's Brady's struggle, not with ADHD or trying to succeed in school, but he's trying to find a way to be a part of a community.
13:10And he doesn't really know how, because he didn't have the upbringing.
13:13He has absent parents.
13:15He was sort of raised by his uncle.
13:18But really, he's a lone wolf.
13:20And so I had that approach to him, that he wanted to be a part of the pack.
13:24He just didn't understand how.
13:26Yeah.
13:26And for me, that was my way in.
13:28That and wearing leather jackets.
13:31So that's something like you?
13:32You wear leather jackets?
13:33I do have a few leather jackets in my closet, for sure.
13:36Like, just meeting you, like, you seem great.
13:39And I love Brady, but you don't seem like Brady.
13:41You seem like nothing like Brady.
13:43Yes.
13:43Yeah, I mean, that's part of it, right?
13:46I have a lot of fun playing Brady because he's such a rebel, which I guess I am, in my own way, a bit of a rebel.
13:53My wife would, I think, attest to that.
13:56But when you get to disappear into another character and someone else, it's very cathartic.
14:01It's also, for me, the reason why I got into it.
14:04I'm not really interested in his playing myself.
14:07I do that in real life.
14:08When I get to be a character, it's like taking a vacation, in a way.
14:12People escape when they watch a show or a movie.
14:16And for me, it's the same kind of escape when I'm in a character.
14:19Awesome.
14:20So good.
14:21I should ask you about Martin.
14:22How's it working with him?
14:23Yeah, Martin Henderson?
14:24Yeah.
14:25Sweetheart, total puppy dog.
14:28He's a fantastic actor.
14:30He is a very, very nice guy.
14:32And, you know, from day one, we got along and we still do.
14:35He's very fun to stand off with in a scene.
14:38And we've had those scenes together.
14:40Very present and so consistently great.
14:43Awesome.
14:43Can you tell us anything about what we can expect next season or not really?
14:46Okay.
14:46Yeah.
14:47This is always a tricky, what to expect without getting fired.
14:52I can tell you this.
14:54So to cap off where we left off because it's been so long, Brady has confessed his undying love to Bree and his current girlfriend, Lark, witnessed this moment and was very heartbroken and decided to steal all his money that he had inherited as part of his first time ever coming into money.
15:17He's broke his entire life.
15:18The fire burns down the lumberyard.
15:20He gets this insurance money and he's got all these, you know, he's got all these hopes and dreams about how to build a motorcycle shop that'll be good for kids and give them a spot to hang out.
15:31And then it's gone.
15:33And he has a zero dollars in his bank account.
15:36And he's got to decide in season seven what to do.
15:41What I know what he does is he tries to find it.
15:44He tries to figure out where Lark is and confront her.
15:47And he's also trying to reconcile his feelings with Bree because where she left off, Mike had went out and bought her a very expensive plastic ring from a water bottle and proposed to her kind of on a whim.
16:02And **** doesn't know what she wants.
16:03Exactly.
16:05Exactly.
16:05So she's struggling with that too.
16:08And whatever the result, I can't tell you how, whether she says yes or no.
16:14What I can tell you is Brady has some reckoning to do with his own life still.
16:21And obviously he wants to be with Bree.
16:24And the question is, will he be able to do that?
16:28And if he's not able to do that, how does he navigate life?
16:32There's a lot of twists and turns.
16:34A lot of twists and turns.
16:35There's a big cliffhanger, of course, at the end of the season.
16:39I'm not spoiling anything by saying that because I feel like Netflix does that so well.
16:42We've figured this whole thing out, I think.
16:45So we're seven seasons in.
16:46We're starting our eighth next spring.
16:49And we really love it.
16:50And we understand, you know, our characters so well.
16:53All of us have lived in their shoes for so long.
16:56And we have so much fun doing it.
16:57So we're excited for people to watch it.
16:59That's awesome.
17:01You did a good job explaining that.
17:02That's perfect.
17:03Just navigate it without getting fired.
17:05I love it.
17:06Do your kids watch the show?
17:07You know, my kids do not watch Virgin River.
17:10It's still a little PG-13 for them at some point.
17:15Not right now.
17:16They're nine, seven, and five.
17:17So they did make their acting debut, though, on The Christmas Ring.
17:22I actually had them on set with me.
17:24And they were in a scene, a really cute little scene, where I'm decorating this gingerbread house.
17:31And I'm there with all the children that are at the church.
17:35And they were adorable.
17:37They were so happy to be on set where they got to eat candy and make a gingerbread house.
17:42And they were very enthused to come back to set.
17:44And I was like, oh, it's not always like that.
17:46But, yeah, they were super great.
17:50My wife was there on set with them, too.
17:52She got a chance to be in it as well.
17:54And it's just so...
17:56I don't want them to become actors.
17:58It was just nice for them to see what I do in a world that was...
18:02Like I said, Karen runs such a beautiful set.
18:06Everyone's calm and loving and caring.
18:08And so they got to see the best version of what I do.
18:11So I'm very grateful for that.
18:12And I can't wait to see their faces when they see it and see themselves up there on the big screen.
18:16Oh, that's so great.
18:17Yeah.
18:18You worked with a lot of heavy hitters who you've mentioned before.
18:21Demi Moore, Duchovny, Marcia Gay Harden.
18:23Yes.
18:24Laura Dern, Liam Neeson.
18:26And you were younger.
18:27Did you learn anything from them?
18:28I was like second.
18:30So I went to theater school.
18:31And then I feel like my film school was very much like baptism by fire.
18:35I got out of theater school and I booked this movie with Demi Moore and David Duchovny.
18:40And yeah, next thing you know, I'm at a read-through with David Duchovny and Demi Moore.
18:45And I'm like pinching myself under the table to make sure this isn't a dream.
18:49I learned a lot really quickly.
18:50In fact, David Duchovny specifically took me under his wing.
18:55And he knew I was fresh out of school.
18:57He's a very smart, very caring man.
19:00And he was kind of like...
19:01I was watching him on California occasion in the trailer.
19:04And then going to set and asking him questions about what I saw and episodes I saw.
19:10And then he'd be like, okay, like watch this.
19:13And he'd go and he'd literally do nothing.
19:15Like literally nothing.
19:16And he said, did you see that?
19:17And I was like, ah, what?
19:20He's like, I didn't really see anything.
19:22He's like, that's it.
19:23Sometimes you do nothing as an actor and you let the story do the work.
19:27Because in this moment, if I were to like project this one emotion onto this, it would be over the top.
19:33It would be fabricated.
19:35But really what happens sometimes to us when we experience emotion is we need to digest it.
19:40And digesting doesn't look like anything.
19:42But the audience through the story imbues that feeling.
19:45And they know that.
19:45It's like if you're nervous, you don't project nervousness.
19:48You try and hide it.
19:49If you're sad, you don't try and cry.
19:51You try and suppress it.
19:52If you're angry, you don't like rage.
19:55It just bubbles up.
19:56And so all of those feelings were really, it was really, really interesting to see and to learn from him.
20:02One thing he did have on set, because I'm acting in this big movie and sometimes I would get a little tight.
20:08He had this little fart machine.
20:09Yes, a fart machine, which I didn't know is that it's like a little, it wasn't a whoopee cushion.
20:14It was like a little, I don't know if he carries it around.
20:17I don't know where he got it.
20:18But, you know, when I got too serious, whatever, I'd be in the middle of the scene and he'd go.
20:23And I was just like, I'm sorry, what?
20:24And I got to get to the point where, like, if I heard it, I'd smile, I'd laugh, and I'd take a moment and I'd be right back in it with him.
20:33And it worked.
20:34It was really cool.
20:35It took the air out of the room, literally.
20:40But it was also a very effective tool to get me to loosen up a little.
20:43Oh, yeah, that's so neat.
20:44Yeah.
20:45That's great.
20:46Did you appreciate that tip, though, at first?
20:48Like, did it resonate with you right away?
20:50At first, I didn't know what was going on.
20:51I was like, what did you have for dinner last night?
20:53And then I think he liked it because he knew eventually, and he showed.
20:57We were in a car.
20:57I remember specifically, you know, and he's David Duchovny.
21:01So he's super charming and super black.
21:02He turned on the air conditioner.
21:04He's turned on all this, like, that's an aroma in here.
21:06And he wasn't, like, owning up to it.
21:07And I was like, what is going on?
21:10But, yes, at the end, he kind of showed me, and I'm like, oh, I gotcha.
21:14I gotcha.
21:15Yeah.
21:17Three kids, gorgeous wife.
21:19How do you manage it all?
21:20You look like a very doting dad.
21:22Yes.
21:22You know, my biggest achievement in life and the role that I'm most proud of is the role
21:29of being a father.
21:30Honestly, I say this a lot, but the most rewarding things in life are the most difficult.
21:36And the challenge is what makes the rewards so beautiful.
21:40And, you know, raising three kids is very challenging.
21:43So is hiking a mountain.
21:45But you can get a helicopter at the top of a mountain, and the view will be beautiful.
21:48But if you hike that mountain and you get to the top, it's a different kind of beauty.
21:53And having kids is the same thing.
21:55It's through that journey that those early mornings, the late nights, the sleep deprivation, the tantrums, the crazy, you know, sports schedules, the ups and downs, the everything, the cluttered everything, stepping on Legos and cars and all the things.
22:13It's coming home from work and having your daughter run up and say, Daddy, or your boys give you a hug or you watch them play hockey.
22:22And, you know, it's wonderful.
22:24It's life's best gift.
22:27Awesome.
22:27And what are you guys doing for the holidays?
22:29For Christmas?
22:30Do you do Christmas?
22:30We definitely do Christmas.
22:32Yes, of course.
22:33I mean, you know, I've done my share of Christmas movies, so it would be a shame if we didn't.
22:37Last year, actually, we kind of, I did two Christmas movies.
22:40So I was like done with candy canes, done with eggnog, done with gingerbread houses.
22:45Like, you know what?
22:45We're going somewhere tropical.
22:47We went to Fiji, this beautiful resort called Vomo.
22:50We loved it.
22:51But it did rain a lot.
22:54And so we were like, you know, I think this year we're going to stay home and we're going to try.
23:00I've got three siblings myself, so I'm one of four, and they now all have kids.
23:05My younger sister just had her first, like, three weeks ago, and my brother now has a son as well.
23:13And so my sister has two.
23:15So we're going to take all these kids, and we're trying to put them all in one house and have a big old Christmas with all the family.
23:22That's our dream.
23:23Right now we're just trying to get schedules figured out, but that's the plan.
23:27Aw, that sounds great.
23:28Yeah.
23:29You have the most beautiful skin.
23:31Any skin secrets?
23:32Just a lot of water.
23:33Like, I splash my face with water often throughout the day.
23:36And, yeah, that's it.
23:40Yeah, I'm blessed with maybe some good genetics in that area.
23:44How do you stay fit mentally and physically?
23:47Yes.
23:47So mentally, that's a challenge.
23:50A lot of coffee in the morning.
23:52You know, I find my fitness actually helps me stay sharp.
23:56When I get a chance to work out in the morning, I'm much sharper throughout the day.
23:59And it's about squeezing it in when I can, making sure that I don't go too long without having a sweat.
24:07And, you know, when I do go to the gym, it's not about being bulky.
24:13I do a lot of core workouts, a lot of – every time I go to the gym, I do a full-body workout so that one area doesn't get bigger than another area.
24:21And I also try and stay active by doing a lot of sports.
24:24I play a lot of hockey.
24:26And as I'm Canadian, I do a lot of – I have so much – there's no better workout.
24:31Like, I burn, like, 1,300 calories in one hour.
24:33Wow.
24:33And I don't – it doesn't feel like it.
24:35It's a bit of therapy, too.
24:36It's just I can get out some – get out some aggression on the hockey rink.
24:40But also, like, you know, being with the guys and, you know, having other dads be there and we talk about our life in the change room afterwards.
24:49And it's a great – it's a wonderful way to keep in shape.
24:53Favorite comfort food?
24:55Oh, favorite comfort food.
24:59I will say pizza's up there.
25:01I really do like burgers.
25:03However, I have stopped eating ground beef and I now do the – I do the veggie patties and the Impossible and the Beyond Meats.
25:11And I just love – I love them.
25:14And they're a great replacement.
25:15I don't feel as heavy afterwards.
25:17You know, I love grilled cheese with tomato soup.
25:20Oh, my gosh, I love candy.
25:22I have sweet – I have a sweet tooth.
25:23So, like, after Halloween is hard for me.
25:26The kids do find some wrappers next to the couch in the morning and I get in big trouble for it.
25:31Or they'll see it in the garbage and they're like, Dad!
25:34Like, listen.
25:35What do you steal in there?
25:35I call it the dad tax, okay?
25:37You got to, like, take a little bit.
25:38Like, this is good training for when you're older.
25:41The dad tax.
25:42So, yeah, I don't know.
25:43My favorite candy is – I just – I really love chocolate a lot.
25:49Like, a lot, a lot.
25:50Yeah.
25:51Who doesn't like chocolate?
25:51I like the Reese's.
25:52Your Reese's?
25:53Yeah, Reese's Pieces.
25:54The Reese's Pieces, like the little, like –
25:56And the traditional Reese's.
25:57Yeah.
25:58Those are my –
25:59Yes.
25:59So, post-Halloween, you get it.
26:01Yeah, of course.
26:02Everyone does.
26:03And boring and before.
26:04And then there has to be a moment.
26:05Like, my wife came up with this thing called the Switch Witch where she takes, like, all of the candy.
26:10Like, so you can leave all the candy outside and the witch will come along and switch it for a present.
26:15And then you'll have a present.
26:16And so we, like, have saved our kids' teeth and a lot of their health by doing this.
26:22We usually do it, like, a week after Halloween.
26:24And so they've had their Halloween candy, but because they end up coming home with a thousand candies, because I don't know what's happening, but people keep giving out more candies and more candies, that we get rid of that and we switch it out for a gift.
26:36And it's kind of a nice way to wrap it up.
26:37Oh, that's a great idea.
26:38Yeah.
26:38I'm going to steal that one.
26:39My wife takes credit for that.
26:41Favorite cocktail?
26:43Oh, I love scotches.
26:45I love, you know, old fashions.
26:47There's this drink that my dad loves that I started drinking, too, called the Rusty Nail.
26:53It's drambuie and scotch mixed together.
26:56It is not for the faint of heart.
26:58They say because it's smooth going in, but the next day you feel a little rusty.
27:04And so you want to be selective on the nights you enjoy that drink.
27:07Don't do it before you...
27:10No, listen, you have to have nothing to do.
27:13And it's certainly even rustier when you have three kids to wake up to the next day.
27:18That's right.
27:19If I was to grab your ideal music playlist, what would be on it?
27:22I love a lot of folk music.
27:25Lately, I've been in Zach Bryan a lot.
27:28I've been coming more and more country.
27:30And it's maybe now because we were living in a small town.
27:33So that was great about being in Tennessee.
27:34But yeah, Zach Bryan, Noah Cahan, very folk-based stuff.
27:41But I also love the oldies, like timeless stuff, like Frank Sinatra and the Beatles.
27:47And, you know, that stuff takes me back, and I love it.
27:50All right.
27:51Good taste.
27:52Coffee or tea?
27:53Coffee for sure.
27:54Multiple cups.
27:56What's something you did growing up that you would tell your kids not to do?
28:00Great question.
28:02So much.
28:03I think the biggest thing, one, is to make sure that you're always, you know, wearing
28:11your helmet when you're on your bike.
28:14It's something that I didn't do a lot of when I was younger.
28:18And I think the whole culture around helmets is totally different now.
28:23We know just how important they are.
28:25Another, oh, this is such a good question.
28:27Let me think about this.
28:29That's a good answer.
28:30Yes, helmets, but also, like, there's something, there's, like, going to be an antidote here
28:34somewhere.
28:35There's so much.
28:36I do, like, I tell them all the time, don't do what I did when I was a kid.
28:40A lot of it also comes down to, like, wearing clothes.
28:42Like, we live in Canada, so where the weather can be really intense.
28:47That's where Virgin River is filmed out in Vancouver.
28:50So we have a home out there.
28:52And for the love of God, they will not put on a jacket or wear a rain pant.
28:58I'm like, it is going to rain all day today.
29:00You need a rain jacket and rain boots.
29:02And they're like, no, no, no.
29:03And they come home with wet shoes and shivering.
29:06I'm like, so do we learn our lesson?
29:08No.
29:09The next day, it's the same struggle.
29:11They're like, it's not cold.
29:13I'm like, it's because you're inside.
29:15Sweetie, you're inside.
29:16You're not outside.
29:18So, yes, dressing appropriately.
29:19It's something I struggle with my wife, too, because she's from California and isn't used
29:24to preparing for the weather.
29:26So it's all about layering, you know, because you'll get hot and it'll take off a layer and
29:30then you're cold again.
29:31You know, New York's like, you got a layer, right?
29:35What do you guys do when you're not working?
29:37How do you relax?
29:38As a family, we try and do as many hikes as possible.
29:42We try and get, you know, because we live in Vancouver, there's a lot of beautiful nature
29:46around us.
29:47So when we're not at a hockey rink, taking our kids to hockey practice, when we're, you
29:52know, my youngest daughter is in doing tap and break dancing now.
29:56So when we're not taking them to that stuff, we're usually spending time outside.
30:00And we're also, you know, when it's snowy is kind of our season.
30:04So we live near Whistler where there's a beautiful ski mountain.
30:08So we'll get on the mountain together as a family and do some skiing.
30:11I also love taking the kids ice skating.
30:14And I've done this since they were little.
30:17I don't even know if I can do this anymore because now they're nine, seven, five.
30:21But I used to put on like a harness and tow them in a sled toboggans behind me.
30:28It would be a, talk about workout, great workout.
30:31And they'd have so much fun.
30:32We put little sprinkle lights, like, you know, those battery powered lights on their sleigh.
30:36And we'd, I just snowshoe them around.
30:38And that was fun for them and a good workout for me.
30:41That's awesome.
30:42Yeah.
30:42Well, you are so great.
30:43You made my day.
30:44It was a wonderful interview.
30:45Thank you so much.
30:45So nice meeting you.
30:46You're so cool.
30:48As I knew you would be.
30:49To hear more of this interview, visit our podcast, Life Minute TV on iTunes and all streaming podcast platforms.
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