‘FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE’

CAST BIOS

LISA WHELCHEL (Wendy) – Actress, author, advocate and motivational speaker was born on May 29 in Littlefield, Texas. At age 13, her first professional acting experience was as a Mouseketeer for Walt Disney’s “The New Mickey Mouse Club.” Whelchel is perhaps best known for her starring role as Blair Warner on NBC’s “The Facts of Life” for nine years.

Her first book, Creative Correction, was released in October 2000 and has sold over 200,000 copies. She went on to write over a dozen more books including, The Facts of Life and Other Lessons My Father Taught Me, The ADVENTure of Christmas, The Busy Mom’s Guide series and her most recent, Friendship For Grownups.

With a goal to refresh and equip other mothers, she is the founder of MomTime Ministries and “Personal Mom Coaching.” Whelchel is also an international speaker and has toured with “Women of Faith,” “Extraordinary Women” and “Women of Joy.”

Lisa’ Whelchel’s latest adventure was participating on Season 25 of CBS’s “: Philippines.” She tied for second place and won the Sprint “Player of the Season” as awarded by the fans of the show.

After taking 20 years away off from show business to raise her children, Whelchel returned in 2013 with a role in “’s A Madea Christmas.”

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KIM FIELDS (Roseanne) - A true Renaissance woman of the entertainment industry, is an accomplished actress, director, producer and writer. Her work spans decades, and transcends both genres and mediums to create quality entertainment.

As an actress, Fields is best known for her starring roles in two iconic shows, "" and "The Facts Of Life.” Fields has also appeared on many other film and television projects, including HBO’s “The Comeback;” TBS’s “Meet the Browns;” Lifetime’s “The Division” and “Strong Medicine;” and A&E’s “The Cleaner.” More recently, she starred in the television movie "A Cross To Bear,” and had a supporting role in the film "What To Expect When You're Expecting,” both in 2012. In 2013, Fields starred in her third "Holiday Love" Christmas special for TV One, which she also produced, co-wrote and directed.

In addition to her onscreen work, Fields excels behind the camera. She has directed over 70 episodes of television on programs including TV One’s “The Rickey Smiley Show,” Nickelodeon’s “Kenan & Kel,” FOX’s “Living Single” and BET’s “Let’s Stay Together.” She also directed two of

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HALLMARK CHANNEL / ‘FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE’ – Cast Bios – Page 2

Tyler Perry’s TBS series: "Meet The Browns” and “House of Payne.” Fields is an award-winning film director, and was awarded the honor of “Director of the Year” for her work on the short film “Silent Bomb” by the Black American Cinema Society.

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ANTONIO CUPO (Marco) – Antonio Cupo was born in Vancouver, Canada. Growing up he performed in numerous theatrical productions both scholastically and regionally, winning him various acting awards throughout high school.

By his early 20’s, Cupo’s love for acting had developed into a career. He landed roles on such shows as “The L Word,” Steven Spielberg's “Taken” and James Cameron's “Dark Angel.” Cupo’s career took a turn when an Italian director noticed him in a film called “Hollywood Flies.” The director asked him to play the lead character in a series called “Elisa Di Rivombrosa.” Cupo accepted and, with over 14 million viewers in Italy alone, his career instantly sprung to a new level.

Cupo has since worked opposite Oscar® winner F. Murray Abraham in three films, “September 11 1683,” “Sword Of War” and “Carnera: The Walking Mountain,” interpreting 1934 world boxing champion, Max Baer. Other works include “Elegy” (Penelope Cruz, Sir Ben Kingsley and Dennis Hopper) and a Rolex worldwide commercial directed by film director Joe Carnahan. His starring roles in various TV-movies such as “Love Notes” opposite Laura Leighton and “Magic Beyond Words – The JK Rowling Story” opposite Poppy Montgomery have received acclaim and are some of Lifetime networks most viewed movies in the USA.

Cupo starred in the Hallmark Channel Original Movies “Love At The Thanksgiving Day Parade” and “Hats Off To Chistmas!” He is currently slated to star in “Robinson Crusoe” (directed by Nick Gomez) and season two of Global/Shaw Media’s “Bomb Girls” starring both Cupo and Oscar® winner Meg Tilly. Cupo’s artistic abilities also expand into music writing and production.

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