Nichole Oliver – Crash Into Me

Q. What are the current projects that you are working on?

A. “Crash Test Mommy,” the reality show I’m hosting. I also have another project I’m working on too, that is called The Foursome; it’s a feature film. It’s a comedy and it stars a guy named Kevin Dillon who is on the show “Entourage” on HBO.

Q. You’re the host for Life Network’s show “Crash Test Mommy.” What can you tell us about the show’s premise and your role as host?

A. The premise for “Crash Test Mommy” is that you take the mom away for a well deserving weekend. In her place you leave someone from her life who thinks they can do a better job. They have forty-eight hours to prove it! My job as host is that I travel with the mom to a spa and we check in at home to see what’s happening. There are web cams at the house so we can check in by computer and we can see what’s going on. I give her updates and keep her apprised of situations and if we don’t like what’s going on we conspire together to make life a little more real and a little bit more hellish for the crash test mommy.

Q. What made you want to be a part of this show?

A. Well, I just had my second baby, I have two little boys. I have a nine month old and just over a two year old. I was trying to figure out what the heck I was going to do. I’ve been working in the industry for a while as an actor but when you’re a mom it’s hard to balance your time. They were looking for a new host and they wanted a mom and it worked with sort of the number of hours I was willing to put back in to the film industry and be at home with my kids. So, I felt it was perfect.

Q. How does this show differ from family shows on TV like “Meet Mr. Mom” and “Wife Swap”?

A. I think “Meet Mr. Mom” is pretty close, but our show is not mean spirited, it’s fun. It’s not about you’re stupid or you can’t do it right, it’s really about allowing somebody in the mom’s life to get a taste of what her life is like. In the end maybe finding a way to help her out. There was a really nice kind of emotional bonus that just happened with one show we just did. The husband and wife, they were kind of close to maybe ending their relationship, so we ended up facilitating better conversation and they are together and they are working it out. Just little bonuses like that which makes you feel really good to be a part of something like that. Bringing people together as opposed to tearing people apart.

Q. How does being a mother of two children yourself help you empathize with what the mother on the show goes through?

A. I’ve been there, when I see something going on or she’s talking about how she feels I can relate. It is something that I am going through myself, I know what it feels like to be a working mom. I know what it feels like to try to balance when you have more than one child. I know what it feels like sometimes to just feel like in this day and age you want to do everything perfect and you can’t. So, I have real life experience to bring to the show and to the mom. I think it helps her to open up and talk to me because I’m one of the sisterhood, mothers they say.

Q. Do you have a most memorable moment from filming “Crash Test Mommy” so far?

A. Yes, there was one episode where we take the mom and pick her up in a limousine and take her to the spa. On the way home this particular show the mother’s mother was watching the kids, the grandma. The husband traveled with the wife away to the spa and he had written her a love letter. They had been married for maybe twenty years and he had never really done anything like that since their courtship. He wanted her to open the letter in the limousine on the way home and it was a beautiful, touching letter. He expressed how much he loved her, what he thought of her as a mother, what he thought of her as a wife, how his life is better with her in it. How he hoped that the show would help to create a better relationship between the grandma and the mom. It was just really beautiful.

Q. You’ve also done work with voiceovers and animation. Do you prefer to be in front of the camera or behind it?

A. I like it all, I like doing as many things as possible. The one fun thing about being behind the camera is that it doesn’t matter what you look like. You just show up to work with no makeup and in your sweat-pants. Or, in my case nine months pregnant, as I had been. I can do a little boy, I can play a little girl, I can play a grandma, I can play an alien, and I can play a ladybug. It doesn’t matter what you look like, that’s one of the fun things about voiceovers.

Q. What are your passions besides acting?

A. Gardening, renovating and shopping.

Q. Do you have a latest obsession? Are you into any particular book, sport, movie or activity?

A. I am obsessing over my house, I’m renovating it for like the umpteenth time.

Q. What would you like to say to your fans and supporters?

A. Thank you very much for their support and keep it coming. I really appreciate it and just remember family first!