‘Lucifer’ Star Aimee Garcia Reflects on Her Career, Making Hallmark Movies, and Being Fabulous at 45 (EXCLUSIVE)
Her secret to feeling and looking great – plus a sneak peek at 'The Cases of Mystery Lane: Death is Listening'
Aimee Garcia was a bratty teen on The George Lopez Show, played a nanny on Dexter and the clever Ella Lopez on Lucifer – but in her Hallmark franchise The Cases of Mystery Lane, she’s stepped up to playing a wife looking to rekindle the magic in her marriage. With The Cases of Mystery Lane: Death is Listening premiering September 13, the actress who’s grown up before our eyes gets candid with FIRST for Women. Here, Garcia reflects on her career – not to mention getting to tell a different kind of Hallmark love story, how it felt to have Hallmark Mystery ‘sleuthers’ rally behind her movie, and why she believes she’s hotter than ever at 45.
Reflecting on the ups and downs of a career in Hollywood
You may recognize Aimee Garcia from any number of credits. From her first TV role on ER in 1999 to her more recent run on Lucifer, she has far too many to list here – but if she could talk to the version of herself who starred on The George Lopez Show in 2006, she’d have a bit of advice for her.
“I would say, ‘Just take it one day at a time, and know that it’s going to be an up and down journey,’” Garcia shares. “One day, you’re on a billboard on Sunset Blvd. The next, you can’t get a job. The next, you’re being honored at an awards ceremony. And the next, people are asking you to take a picture of someone more famous. Life isn’t linear, so have fun.
“Alfred Molina is one of my favorite actors of all time,” she adds,” and after doing a couple movies with him, I finally worked up the courage to ask him for tips. He said, ‘Take the work seriously, but don’t take yourself seriously.’ I’m really type A, but I took that to heart and I think it has served me well.”
Now, the actress who made her professional stage debut at the age of seven in Paul Mejia’s Cinderella in Chicago is sharing that heart with Hallmark fans – and having a blast getting goofy and solving crimes with costar Paul Campbell.
On the ‘Cases of Mystery Lane’ movies
Hallmark is known for stories about women finding themselves and falling in love, but last year’s The Cases of Mystery Lane introduced Birdie and Alden Case, a couple that was already married… but not quite as in love as they once were.
“While The Cases of Mystery Lane is a mystery and does have its moments of escapism with the undercover shenanigans and hijinks, it also has a very beautiful, different type of love story,” Garcia contends. “There’s something very relatable about having to rekindle love with a long-term partner and see them with fresh eyes.”
In searching for clues, the Cases found each other – and now, they’re at it again.
In Death is Listening, Birdie and Alden are pulled into a new mystery alongside Matt Hamilton’s Officer Newton when their favorite true crime podcast host is murdered.
“I’m so grateful that the Hallmark Mystery fans, who call themselves Sleuthers, started a petition to turn one movie into two,” Garcia grins. “I feel giddy that the first one was so well received, and I am definitely here for representing a strong, powerful, career-oriented woman who looks at her husband in the way she first looked at him!”
On joining the Hallmark family
After all these years in the business, Garcia feels she’s found a new home on Hallmark.
“I’m the rookie, and they could not have been more welcoming,” she says of the feel-good media giant. “I felt an instant collaboration. If I want to speak Spanish, if I have ideas to dance because I love to dance, if we want to improvise, they say yes. It makes you feel heard as a creative and I love that Hallmark is very female-forward, very optimistic, and very inclusive.
“One of the things we do best as a society is storytelling, and the world could use more positive, heartfelt stories that bring people together,” she adds. “I’m very happy to be part of a company that has those values in place.”
On telling stories that matter with AJ Mendes
While she’s joined the Hallmark family, Garcia also collaborates with AJ Mendes – a professional wrestler and author of New York Times Bestseller, Crazy Is My Superpower: How I Triumphed by Breaking Bones, Breaking Hearts, and Breaking the Rules.
“We called our production company Scrappy Heart Productions, because we’re scrappy and we have big hearts,” Garcia shares “We are writing to create the change that we want to see in media and make underrepresented voices the center of their own stories.”
Having penned the 2022 Netflix action-fantasy movie Blade of the 47 Ronin, the duo is preparing to release their comic book Day of the Dead Girl this October.
“I want to segue to being on both sides of the camera,” Garcia teases. “So I’ve been writing a lot, lately.”
The secret to looking better than ever at 45
If you’re still stuck on the fact that we told you Aimee Garcia is 45 years old, you’re not the only one. Her secret?
“Just getting good sleep and drinking a lot of water keeps you young,” she contends. “And honestly, low stress. I remember what’s important to me – my friends, my family, my inner circle of people I’ve known for 20 years – and again, I don’t take myself seriously.”
And yes, she also enjoys a good workout – as seen in the above Instagram shot featuring Sarah Michelle Gellar, who she met through her Netflix Christmas With You costar Freddie Prinze Jr. – but breaking a sweat is not about her looks, anymore.
“Maybe on Dexter, I felt like I needed to keep it tight,” Garcia admits to FIRST. “But I think I’ve had a pretty good relationship with my self-image and expectations. I just want to stay healthy, and I want to be mobile at 99.
“And I actually think I look better now than when I was 20,” the Hallmark beauty concludes. “I’m more self-possessed and confident. I don’t sweat the small stuff, and I’m more forgiving and patient with myself. I like to say women are like fine wines. We just get better with age.”
The Cases of Mystery Lane: Death is Listening premieres on Hallmark Mystery on Friday, September 13 at 9/8c.
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