‘ENGAGING FATHER CHRISTMAS’ Cast Bios

ERIN KRAKOW (Miranda) – Best known for her starring role as Elizabeth Thatcher in Hallmark Channel's “When Calls the Heart,” now in production on its fifth season, and her recurring role on Lifetime Television’s “Army Wives,” Erin Krakow has graced both the stage and screen during her acting career.

Krakow is a classically trained actor and graduated with a BFA from The Juilliard School. She had starring roles in a number of the esteemed school’s productions, including Viola and Sebastian in Twelfth Night, Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Yelena in Black Russian. Beyond her work at Juilliard, Krakow has appeared in many prominent stage roles, including Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest and Shelby in the stage adaptation of Steel Magnolias.

Krakow has transitioned from stage to screen, earning series regular, recurring and guest-starring roles on top television series. On Lifetime’s, “Army Wives,” Krakow played the recurring role of Specialist Tanya Gabriel. She also earned the recurring role of Molly on CBS’s hit daytime soap “Guiding Light.” Krakow guest-starred on “Castle” for ABC; “NCIS: Los Angeles” and “NCIS” for CBS; and “Good Girls Revolt” for Amazon/Sony.

Elizabeth Thatcher on “When Calls the Heart” is not Krakow’s only beloved character for Hallmark Channel. She also played lead roles Samantha in “Chance at Romance” and Christie in “A Cookie Cutter Christmas.” On Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, Krakow played Miranda in “Finding Father Christmas,” a role she reprises in “Engaging Father Christmas.”

Born in Philadelphia, Krakow grew up in South Florida where she attended Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts. She continued her dramatic studies at The Juilliard School in New York City. She now resides in Los Angeles when she isn’t filming in Vancouver, BC.

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NIALL MATTER (Ian) – Originally from small town Alberta, Canada, Niall Matter started out working on the oil rigs before pursuing a career in film and television. He got his first break when he signed on as Trent Hamilton for the hit Canadian TV series “The Best Years.”

Matter is perhaps best known for his series regular role as Zane Donovan on Syfy’s “Eureka” and as the lead, Evan Cross, on Syfy’s “Primeval: New World.” Matter maintains a balance of work on Canadian as well as American projects; he recently guest starred on ABC’s “The Good

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Doctor” alongside Freddie Highmore and Nicholas Gonzalez, NBC’s “Constantine” and The CW’s “Supernatural” and “iZombie.” Matter also played a lead role alongside Julia Stiles in TNT’s pilot “Guilt by Association,” directed by Nelson McCormick.

Previous credits include a major recurring role as ER doctor Peter Cutler on the Canadian drama “Remedy,” with Enrico Colantoni and Sara Canning. He had a starring role in the independent feature film Chokeslam alongside Amanda Crew and Michael Eklund, as well as in Ally Was Screaming opposite Camille Sullivan. Notably, Matter was hand-selected to portray the Mothman in Zach Snyder’s feature film Watchmen and he had major recurring roles on “Melrose Place” and The CW’s “90210.”

Matter previously appeared in the Hallmark Channel original movie “Stop the Wedding” with Alan Thicke and Rachel Boston.

Most recently, Matter wrapped a large supporting role in The Predator, filming every scene opposite Emmy Award-winning actor Sterling K. Brown. The film is scheduled for release in late 2018.

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WENDIE MALICK (Margaret) – Wendie Malick is on the board of The Environmental Media Association, and is a spokesperson for The Humane Society of the United States and Return to Freedom, a wild horse sanctuary and advocacy group. Through their charitable gift fund, A Drop in the Bucket, she and husband Richard Erickson support a medical center in the Congo. They live in the Santa Monica Mountains with four horses, a donkey, two dogs and a 16-year-old.

Malick’s theater credits include Off-Broadway productions such as North Shore Fish and Burleigh Grimes. In Los Angeles, she has performed in Big Night (The Kirk Douglas Theatre), Questa, Round Trip, The Santaland Diaries, The Vagina Monologues and The Underpants. Additional credits also include: The Guys (Studio Arena), Don’t Blame Me, I Voted for Helen Gahagan Douglas (Wooly Mammoth), Blithe Spirit, What is the Cause of Thunder? (Williamstown) and Closure (New Jersey Rep).

Her lengthy film career includes appearances in films such as: Adventureland, Fifty-Nothing, Confessions of a Shopaholic, Waiting, Racing Stripes, The American President, On Edge, Trojan Wars, Raising Genius, Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video, A Little Sex, The Goods, Bugsy, Funny About Love, The Emperor’s New Groove and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.

On television, she was most recently seen in “Darrow & Darrow,” “Grace and Frankie,” “American Housewives,” “Mom,” “Pitch,” “NCIS: New Orleans” and CBS’ “Rush Hour.” She was previously a series regular on “Hot in Cleveland” (garnering a People’s Choice Award and SAG

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nomination for best ensemble); “Just Shoot Me” (one Golden Globe, two Emmy nominations); “Dream On” (four Cable Ace awards); “Frasier”; “Big Day”; “Good Company”; “CSI”; “NYPD Blue”; “L.A. Law”; “The X-Files”; and “Seinfeld.” Her animated credits include “BoJack Horseman,” “Jimmy Neutron” and “SpongeBob SquarePants.”

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