Long before she was exploring the Canadian frontier on screen, Bethany Joy Lenz was doing something more personal in real life: rewriting her own story. The actress, author and multi-hyphenate creative now leads Hope Valley: 1874—the highly anticipated When Calls the Heart spinoff premiering on Hallmark+ this spring—as Rebecca Clarke, a determined mother who leaves everything familiar behind for a fresh start on the Western frontier. (Fun fact: Lenz’s real-life teenage daughter, Maria, stars alongside her.)
Even with her daughter by her side, filming was anything but easy. “We’re fighting the elements, working with animals, wearing wet costumes…there are just so many things that are uncomfortable,” she says. “So, you find every ray of sunshine you can, and hold onto it until the end of the day, and then you do it again tomorrow.” Her off-set survival kit includes strategic hydration (corsets make bathroom breaks complicated), Dr. Barbara Sturm eye patches and a late-night hot bath. “And sleep!” she laughs. “You just have to keep sleeping.”
It’s fitting that her friends simply call her “Joy”—because whether she’s playing a frontier pioneer, topping bestseller lists or plotting her next chapter, that’s exactly what she radiates. Fans have followed Lenz for decades, from nine seasons of One Tree Hill to the record-breaking Hallmark hit A Biltmore Christmas, along with roles in Grey’s Anatomy, Dexter and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
But it was Dinner for Vampires—her New York Times No. 1 bestselling memoir about escaping a decade-long cult, celebrated by Vogue, Time, Vanity Fair
and People—that revealed the full depth of who she is. And she’s not slowing down: a paperback edition arrives this August, followed by her debut novel, The Betrayal of Cora Wexford, a Victorian thriller, in October. “I guess it’s just a year of me living in the 19th century!” she says. Ahead, she opens up about life on set, her routine and what’s next.
You have the When Calls the Heart spin-off, Hope Valley, out now. How was it like filming that? You’re really part of the whole portfolio over there.
“Yes, I am now, for sure! Filming was a really positive experience, though it was arduous and challenging on many days. The experience we created as a group was so encouraging, so positive, because we really just had to push through.
It’s like in environments like that, when everything is so difficult, and you’re fighting the elements, and you’re working with animals, and you’re all in wet costumes, and the days are long, and you’re cold and there’s just so many things that are uncomfortable, that if you’re not all on the same page, if everybody’s not in the same boat in terms of agreement of we’re not complaining, we’re not going to dwell on the negative, we are just going to push through, and we’re going to find every ray of sunshine that we can and just hold onto it until the end of today and then we’ll do it again tomorrow!
That’s how we had to live for the last three months. I think it was pretty great, actually. I think it’s a good way of going through life.”
DRESS: CHARAH
DRESS: CHARAH,
I have to remember that one. When you film something like this, how do you just go back to where you’re staying and decompress after a long day?
“I was in a house. I had my daughter with me. That was hard because I don’t get to spend a lot of time with her when I’m on set and working these long, long days. As the lead of a show like this, I’m in almost every scene, and I’m certainly in every day. Coming home at nine or ten o’clock at night, I get to see her for a little while, but I also need to sleep. It’s hard to try to figure that out. I think that was the biggest challenge, which was how to get time together, but we did spend a lot of time on the weekends.
Decompressing usually involved a hot bath. I tried to have one good conversation with my daughter and our family friend, who was staying with us to help out once a day when I could come home. We’d have a cup of tea and chit-chat about the day. Then, a hot bath and sleep. You just have to keep sleeping.”
Isn’t that the secret? It makes everything better. The filming situation seems pretty rugged; I’m sure you’re out in the dirt. What’s your skin care at the end of the day?
“Well, I try to drink a lot of water, although it is hard in this costume because it’s a corset. When skirts get really wet and muddy, it’s just hard to go to the bathroom! I started getting into a routine of planning when I could drink water, about 20 minutes before I arrived to set. I would chug a bottle or two of water, and then I knew that I could flush it out before I got into my costume. Then, I sipped, sipped, sipped all throughout the day.
Then, in the afternoon, right before lunch, about 20 minutes before lunch, I would chug a bunch more water. Then, right at the start of lunch, I would have another bottle. I had to time everything out, but I did figure out how to get in the hydration. The moral of the story is drink a lot of water!
The second piece is about actual skin care. There were always Dr. Barbara Sturm eye patches in the morning, just put those on straight away as soon as I got into hair and makeup.
We would sometimes use the brand Methodiq’s foundation. Then, other times, depending on what my skin needed that day, she would do a really light makeup, just brushed on with a little concealer touch-ups here and there. There wasn’t a ton of makeup on my face most of the day. Then, at the end of the day, you just wash it off with towels like the good old Neutrogena wipes, wet wipes in a container and hot towels. They always have hot towels for hair and makeup.
Then, I would put on Embryolisse as a moisturizer, and when we get home, before bed, once that’s soaked in, I started using this product about a year ago—it’s the Frøya Insane Day Glow Balm ($39). I also use Jones Road balms. There’s another one—La something—I took a photo of it, I’ll see if I can find it while we’re talking. Anything balm-like, my skin loves. I have real Mediterranean skin, so it just soaks it up.”
That’s a great lineup…
“I also put those little Frownies on. I also just got this brand called Blumbody—they have smoothing pads for your face. I put them on between my forehead—a little strip on my forehead before I go to sleep. I sleep in that, and wake up, wash my face, do it all over again.”
DRESS: CHARAH
JACKET AND SHIRT: ISOLDA
Now that your daughter is getting into the industry, how does that feel for you? I heard she was dipping her toe into acting.
“It feels great to see her doing something she’s good at and loving it. That’s the number one. It feels great to know that she’s doing it in an environment that feels really safe and family-friendly, to get started on a set where I can also be there, and I trust everyone in the environment. I don’t know that any parent whose child wants to get involved in Hollywood could ask for a better setup in terms of an introduction that feels really safe and protected and a good learning ground.
Her character is in it enough for her to really get her feet wet, but not so much that she’s overwhelmed. The whole setup for her is really perfect. She’s loving it. For me, this is the family business—we’re in the circus. That’s what we do. If she loves it and is good at it and feels a sense of purpose or calling here, fantastic. She’s also told me she’s really interested in criminal psychology and—what do you call it?—all the CSI stuff. Crime scene investigation. She’s really interested in that.
Maybe she’ll do this for a while and decide she likes something else, or maybe not. I don’t really know. She’s 15. We’re all figuring it out.”
The show is obviously the big project right now, but do you have anything else coming up this spring that you’re looking forward to?
“I do! I am just about to take a retreat to Mexico for my birthday, which I’m really excited about! Then, my memoir, Dinner for Vampires, has the paperback coming out in August. That is to on-ramp people to my first novel, coming out in October. It’s called The Betrayal of Cora Wexford. It’s a Victorian thriller. I’m very excited about it. I worked really hard on it. I’ve done a ton of research to really get into that time period. Then, getting to be on Hope Valley was also very helpful, even though it’s on the other side of the world; it still meant to was living in the same timeframe as my book was written.
I just got some insight into how women lived, what the expectations were and things like that. It’s just a year of me living in the 19th century.”
