Lindsay Hartley – My Mother’s Split Personalities

By: Kelly Kearney

Q) You’re playing Gail in the Lifetime movie My Mother’s Split Personalities. Tell the fans a little bit about the film and how your character fits in.

Lindsay: Gail is a woman with a daughter who is about eighteen years old now and at age sixteen the daughter was super smart and left for college. That coupled with what happened to Gail as a child causes the first personality to emerge and that was Amy, the six-year-old girl who feels abandoned by her mother. She actually feels Julie, the daughter, is actually her mother and when her daughter left Amy emerged and met a guy named Warren (Jefferson Brown) and had an affair. Ironically, he brought out the second personality and her name is Madeline. She is like a sex kitten, she’s super flirtations and naughty, she likes to drink and have fun and she’s romantic, kind of in a non-traditional kind of way. She’s a little more dangerous, like fun dangerous. Then, during the course of the movie, Gail starts sensing danger, like real danger in her life, and that’s what brings out the third personality, Sadie. Sadie is an actual killer. When pushed, she will actually kill to protect everybody.

Q) Playing someone with a mental illness is always going to challenge you to flex your acting muscle. For your performance, did you find yourself doing any research on split personalities, otherwise known as Dissociative Identity Disorder?

Lindsay: I did. Of course I looked up and read a whole bunch and watched videos and TV shows and the news because there’s so much you can find on this kind of stuff. It’s also a Lifetime movie, so it’s not exactly how real split personalities or DID really affects people. There are some differences between real DID and how we portrayed it in the movie, but we tried. I mean, we still have to make a movie and Lifetime thriller. So, there’s a little bit that’s like, “Hmm…,” but overall I think they really tried to portray it as close to reality as possible. Gail was traumatized and had a horrible upbringing by her mom and that’s what caused her to end up with these personalities that come out…really, whenever. It’s not necessarily that the personalities come out right after the trauma happens, it can be triggered as an adult, and that’s what happened with Gail. It came out in her adult life, even though the trauma happened as a kid.

Q) What was it about this movie that made you want to sign on to the project?

Lindsay: I really felt honored to have this opportunity. I mean, it’s pretty awesome to get to play all of these people, like a ton of characters in one movie was like a crash course in acting. It was super fun and a lot of hard work. I’m curious to know what you think about it if you get the chance to watch it. I tried to make it as real as possible because you can kind of make them a bit campy, but I tried to keep them dark and real since Gail is pretty much tormented from the very start. I think we did an awesome job working with it, considering we had such limited time. I think it was about a three-week shoot and, I mean, if we would have had maybe six months I’m sure it would have been AMAZING! Three weeks is like bootcamp or how daytime soaps do it, but for a movie.

Q) Kayla Wallace plays your daughter Julie in the film. Julie goes above and beyond to protect her mother from not only her criminal boyfriend, played by Jefferson Brown, but also from her own mental illness. How was it like working with Kayla and was there anything the two of you did to prepare for this complex mother/daughter relationship?

Lindsay: We didn’t prepare, actually. We both met in Ottawa, she was flown in from Vancouver and I was flown in from L.A. We met at the hotel where they put us up, right before we were scheduled to take pictures together, for you know, the set prop family photos. So, we met there and it was crazy because I had gotten an audition and I was stressed because I had to put myself on tape for the audition and I didn’t know anybody that could help me do the tape. I mean, you don’t want to miss out on any opportunities, right? So, I just asked her and was like, “Can you do me this huge favor and help me put something on tape?” She said, “Of course! Oh my God, that’s so great because I have an appointment too and I didn’t know if I could ask you!” So, that’s kind of how we got introduced to each other. After that, we kind of hit off and now when I visit Vancouver…I go there often because I am lucky enough to have a few friends there and every time I go, I see her. I mean, we text each other constantly and I love her to pieces. She’s such a sweet, wonderful person that I tell her all the time that, “I hope my daughter turns out to be just like you.” She is so loving and so kind and she is doing great, booking left and right, right now and I am so proud of her. [laughing] I am kinda like her mom. I took care of her while we were there, and it just kind of naturally happened. I am grateful for that friendship because she is just lovely.

Q) Curtis Crawford directed the film. What was it like working and collaborating with Curtis, and was there anything you learned from the experience that you will take with you to other projects?

Lindsay: I hadn’t worked with Curtis before and it was great to meet him and work with him because he’s done a ton of these thrillers. He was pretty chill and kind of let us do our thing. We did talk about how we would approach the switch into the different personalities on camera. We had to talk about how to make that switch work and that was usually what our main conversations were about. Yeah, it was great to work with him.

Q) The film is full of emotional turmoil and it must have been exhausting for you as an actor. What did you and the cast do to blow off steam and decompress? Is there any fun behind the scenes stories you could share with the fans?

Lindsay: Um…Well… (pause) I don’t know about fun, but super relaxing. [excitable laughter] There is a well-known spa in Ottawa, like the best in the country. So, we hit that two out of three weekends we were there. We spent the day at the spa and it was pretty extraordinary. One day, Kayla and I went shopping and that was fun, too. You know, we just hung out and I don’t know how to explain it because when you go on location, you’re getting to work in a different area and just stepping off set is kind of like a vacation, you know? I mean, you’re in a new place and you get to explore and walk around. So, yeah, that in of itself was a way to decompress.

Q) Playing over the top emotional characters is nothing new for actors who’ve spent time in the soap world. Many fans remember you from your work on “All My Children,” “Passions, and “Days of Our Lives.” Is there any chance you would grace our daytime screens again? I know “Days” fans would love to see you back in Salem, even if it was just for a visit.

Lindsay: Oh, of course! If the opportunity presents itself, I would absolutely jump on it. I love daytime. It’s so special to me for so many reasons. I mean, I fell in love with daytime drama and got to work in it for so many years. I also have a sweet little princess because of it, who is not so little anymore. [laughing] She is taller than me. Mom’s short! [laughs] Yeah, I am a huge fan of daytime and I hope it keeps going. I just saw “Days” got renewed for another year and I hope it continues because it’s awesome! Daytime acting is great because it makes you use your brain and it helps you learn how to deal with the same people while creating relationships and trying to make stories that you’ve been in for so long, new and interesting. It really keeps that creativity flowing, and you know, you meet people who often become life long friends.

Q) As soaps have started to dwindle in popularity, soap actors seem to be finding success with Lifetime movies. What is it about Lifetime that appeals to not only soap actors but their fans as well?

Lindsay: Oh…Um…I don’t know, perhaps, because it’s fun like soaps? You can kind of drift off and enjoy the journey and there’s high stakes like soaps too. So, I think that there’s these qualities about Lifetime movies that make it seem like you’re spending a couple days or a couple weeks in soap land. There’s an element of soaps in these movies for sure.

Q) Besides acting, you’re also writing screenplays and working with, Reel One Entertainment, the film company that developed My Mother’s Split Personalities. How did the opportunity to work with them come about?

Lindsay: I booked a job called Dying to Be Loved and I shot that in Vancouver about three years ago. The producer that hired me, she was a fan of my work and, by the way, is a wonderful lady who I still see and visit to thank her for all the opportunities she’s afforded me. She’s truly extraordinary…Anyway, I came back and was watching Lifetime movies over the Christmas holidays and thought, “You know, I think I could write one of these.” So, I wrote a script with my co-writer and we sent it off to her, the producer, and she loved it. She told us it was great, but we have guidelines we have to follow so we wouldn’t be able to make this particular movie. We would have to write the script based on the structure that they follow. It’s a long story but, yeah…So, we tried it and worked with them and we sold five scripts! They have all been made and aired on Lifetime, with one still coming out soon called Dying For a Baby and another called Murder is a Man’s Sin. Right now, I am kind of super pumped over the writing thing and I have a couple of things I’m working on with my three writing partners. I’ve expanded my writing by working with different people and I’m just loving it. I really love it.

Q) Were you always interested in writing and working behind the camera or was this something that you were inspired to do after becoming an actor?

Lindsay: You know it’s crazy because I never thought I could be a writer. Like, I never thought I could do it and I guess it’s just kind of a natural thing being an actor. I mean, an actor has a leg up in writing I think because instead of just working on one character and the reasons and justifications for all the things they do to make it real, that’s all that writing is too – except you have a ton of characters in a story and you have to make all of their reasons justifiable and they all intertwine while creating scene settings and story points that fit into a format for whatever company you’re working for.  It definitely helps as an actor to know characters. That’s not something else you have to learn. What we do have to learn is the structure and the technical aspect of it and that has been great fun. I’ve learned a lot. Also, branching out with other people has been fun, but it’s scary too because you want to make sure you can elevate their work and inspire them, and it can be scary to put yourself out there. Really, I am grateful, and I love everyone I’m working with. So, we will see what 2019 brings.

Q) Besides My Mother’s Split Personalities what’s next for you, Lindsay? Are you working on any other projects the fans can look out for?

Lindsay: Not yet because everything is still in development, but as soon as it is confirmed I can let you know.