KELLIE MARTIN felt as if she knew Kiernan Shipka even before meeting the 11-year-old acting phenom with whom she stars in the Hallmark Channel Original Movie, “Smooch,” premiering Saturday, February 5 (9 p.m. ET/PT, 8C). Small wonder. Back 20 years ago, viewers will recall, Martin was a juvenile actress impressing colleagues and critics with professionalism and poise beyond her years -- just as Shipka is now. The former Becca Thatcher of “Life Goes On” and current Sally Draper of “Mad Men” bonded right away. The following profile is available for all press uses, with photos, from Crown Features Syndicate™.

Kellie Martin: Child Stardom Fine for Herself and “Smooch” Daughter Kiernan Shipka – But She Doesn‟t Want her Own Daughter Trying It

Crown Features Syndicate™

“It was just such an amazing relationship,” recounts Martin during an afternoon‟s chat. “It was really fun to spend time with Shipka and her mom. When we met, her mom actually said to me, „I‟ve admired your work since you were a little girl. And we think of you when we think of Kiernan, and the choices we make for her.‟”

A romantic comedy infused with frog fairytale fun, “Smooch” has Shipka playing a girl who‟d love to help her widowed mother (Martin) find new love, and Simon Kassianides (“Quantum of Solace”) plays a prince she has reason to believe might have an amphibian background.

“I would joke with Kiernan every day on set, like, „Okay. Child actor – awesome! You‟re talented. Keep doing it. But you have to go to college. That‟s the rule. And make sure you‟re a whole person,‟” Martin says.

“You can have the greatest career in the world, but you really have to develop who you are as a person and for me, the time in college is when I did that. I planted some seeds with her, I think,” adds the Yale-educated actress. “I‟d say, „All this is well and good, but don‟t forget about Yale, Kiernan!‟”

Martin not only earned her degree in art history at the Ivy League institution, she met her husband, attorney Keith Christian, there as well. Going back and forth between her academic and acting lives during the „90s, she smoothly transitioned into her adult career with her “Christy” series and her run on “ER.” Many other credits followed, including her Hallmark Channel “Mystery Woman” movies, two of which she directed.

Notes Martin, “Child actors get stereotyped because a lot of times the parent just lives to get the kid his next job, and that‟s not what Kiernan‟s parents are about. They‟re about family. Acting is just something Kiernan does. It‟s almost like it‟s an extra-curricular activity, and she‟s so good at it, it‟s great that they embrace it and allow her to do it.”

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Martin‟s own daughter is eager to follow in her footsteps. “She tells me every day. It‟s already started and she‟s only four,” she reports with a sigh of amusement. “She loves the idea that I go to the hair and makeup trailer and get my makeup done, and I put my costume on. She just loves it. It‟s pretty cute that she thinks what mama does is awesome.”

But Martin makes it clear she has no interest in Maggie becoming a child actor. “I told her that she can act after she goes to college,” she says crisply. “If she still wants to do it when she‟s old enough to take herself on auditions, then she can do it, but I really want her to focus on getting a great education, and being a kid.”

She explains, “As much as I had a great experience and I turned out fine, the industry is a world of adults, and I think there‟s a lot of times when it‟s not appropriate that a child hears or sees things that are on the set. I can remember hearing a lot of cursing, a lot of „bad words‟ on set when I was a kid. Nothing terrible, just the way adults talk.”

The rejection that is an everyday part of the actor‟s life can be especially brutal for children, she points out. Then, too, “It‟s a job. It‟s work. I was expected to show up and know all of my lines -- which I loved and I did with happiness -- but like, what if I was having an off day? I wasn‟t allowed to just mope around and be a kid, because I had a job to do, and I really had a lot to live up to. I was a young professional. While it was fine for me, I don‟t know that it‟s right for every kid. I don‟t know that that‟s what I want for Maggie.”

Level-headed as she may have been, Martin did show the strain of her career. “It wasn‟t until I did „Life Goes On‟ that the work became like a real task,” she says. “I mean, I was there every day for four years, and I became much more of the perfectionist. And I battled a little bit of an eating disorder. It was never really bad, but I had issues as a teenager growing up before people‟s eyes. That was awkward sometimes and hard sometimes.”

Did she talk to Shipka about the pitfalls of stardom at such a young age? “Not really,” Martin replies, “because that may not be her experience.”

Years ago, Martin was quoted saying that she‟d rather develop a long, respected career than make the kind of celebrity splash that lands personalities on magazine covers and attracts paparazzi. Looking back now, she‟s happy with that choice.

“I‟m kind of like the tortoise in „The Tortoise and the Hare‟ -- slow and steady. I enjoy my work but I‟ve always tried to keep it separate from my life. I don‟t want this business to define me because this business is very fickle. This business is a roller coaster. You have really high highs and low lows, and I don‟t want my life highs and lows to be dependent on my work.”

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What makes the difference? Having a caring family, to Martin‟s way of thinking. “My family always supported me throughout my years of doing it as a kid. At the end of the day I‟d go home and I‟d have my chores, or I‟d have time with my friends who I always had. Now I‟m married and I have a four-year-old and sometimes mama has to go to work for awhile, then mama comes home and is just a wife and a mom, and it‟s simple and it‟s beautiful, and that‟s just the way I want it.”

“Smooch,” a Hallmark Channel Original Movie, premieres Saturday, February 5 (9 p.m. ET/PT, 8C).

Contact: Pam Slay, 818-755-2480

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