Alicia Witt took on dark roles in the early part of her career
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Perusing Alicia Witt’s IMDb page, one thing becomes immediately apparent: A great many of Alicia Witt’s roles — prior to her affiliation with the Hallmark Channel, which began in 2010 — were dark. As noted above, her first starring role was a teen who kills an elderly woman for “fun,” as the 1994 film is aptly titled. She was convincing enough that her chilling performance earned her the Jury Award at the Sundance Film Festival that same year, per the Los Angeles Times. As Witt explained in an interview with the LA Times in 1995, this was one of the roles she had taken in an effort to “squelch” her image as an “ethereal” beauty, which was how many apparently described her looks at the time.
“People tell me I look like a Botticelli painting or stepped out of ‘Howards End,’” she observed. Ironically, it was Witt’s “unearthly, mystical beauty” that captivated “Fun” director Rafal Zielinski, who approached Witt about starring in the film after having seen her perform on the piano at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Other roles that Witt took on around that time included a lonely high school student opposite Richard Dreyfus in “Mr. Holland’s Opus” and a juvenile delinquent opposite Madonna in “The Four Rooms.”
There is a reason Alicia Witt made the transition to the Hallmark Channel
Tinseltown/Shutterstock
Although Alicia Witt occasionally angled for laughs throughout the first half of her career, dark characters, unspeakable crimes, and devastating drama were a unifying theme — until she discovered there was something appealing about wading into more lighthearted territory, she told Glamour in 2020. “If you’re making a movie about something really dark, it does something different to your psyche,” she explained. “You’ll get home from work and try to shake it off, and you’re kind of in a darker place.”
Starting in 2010 with her starring role in “Backyard Wedding,” Witt has been collaborating at least annually with the Hallmark Channel to make heartwarming, romantic productions, including more than 10 Christmas-themed TV movies, per IMDb. According to Glamour, Witt saw the benefit of balancing her “darker work” with “Hallmark’s lighter fare.” “It’s fun to come out with a movie where every day you have a happy ending and it’s a sweet love story or family story,” she’s quoted as having said in 2018 (per Glamour). “Fun” is also how Witt described the vibe on the sets of her Hallmark Channel projects. She has also said that she likes the fact that her collaboration with Hallmark makes people happy. “That sort of thing is why I wanted to be an actor in the first place: to help make the world a little bit of a better place,” she explained.
She hasn’t abandoned her dark and ironic side
YouTube
Although Alicia Witt has, in the last dozen or so years, been associated with feel-good Hallmark Channel programming, she hasn’t stopped taking on roles in darker programming. For example, in 2013, the same year that Witt made her first Hallmark Channel Christmas movie (“A Very Merry Mix-Up”), she also took on the role of Wendy Crowe, a sister of the crime lord Dale Crowe and a paralegal who easily transitions to the shady side of the street when it benefits her family, per Deadline. And for Witt fans who weren’t the Hallmark Channel type, she also made an appearance in the very un-Hallmark-esque Christmas comedy “A Madea Christmas.”
In 2015, Witt took on a two-episode role in Showtime’s dark comedy “House of Lies,” per ComingSoon. The next year, she appeared in two episodes of “The Walking Dead” as the doomed zombie Paula (via Fansided’s Undead Walking). Although Witt took on another sweetly romantic role in television’s Nashville in 2016, she quickly moved back into darker, more ironic fare with appearances in David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks” reboot (2017), “The Exorcist” (2017 television series), and “Orange Is The New Black” (in 2019, she played the third in a love triangle between two main characters in the series’ final season). Most recently, she wrapped a true crime film for Lifetime, “The Disappearance of Cari Farver” (via Fansided).
Alicia Witt had an aggressive form of breast cancer
In late May 2022, Alicia Witt revealed to her fans via Instagram that since late 2021, she’d been undergoing treatment for breast cancer, including the removal of her left breast. “There is so much more to share, and I can’t wait to do so,” she wrote at the time. On June 1, she posted a video in which she bangs a gong in celebration of having completed her chemotherapy treatment, which was neoadjuvant, meaning it preceded her mastectomy (via Instagram). “Just a little over two months ago, I had my last round of chemical therapy prior to my mastectomy,” she wrote in the caption. Although the drugs used in her chemotherapy are the kind that have historically caused hair loss, Witt used the “Cold Cap Therapy” to preserve her hair, per Boston.com.
Witt was declared cancer-free in May of 2022 (via Instagram), but will continue immunotherapy treatments through the end of 2022. This is becoming standard protocol for people diagnosed with Witt’s type of breast cancer, known as HER2-positive, which is more aggressive and more resistant to classic chemotherapy, according to the Mayo Clinic. However, in the late 1990s, an immunotherapy treatment called Herceptin became available, halving the risk of this particular cancer’s spread (per Genentech).
She lost both of her parents in a mysterious 2021 tragedy
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On December 21, 2021, just before Alicia Witt began breast cancer treatment, she suffered a devastating loss. Both her parents (Diane Witt, 75, and Robert Witt, 87, both educators, pictured above with Witt), were found deceased in their Worcester, Massachusetts home following a welfare check. Prior to that, they had fallen out of contact with everyone outside their home for several days, including Alicia (via USA Today). “I reached out to a cousin who lives close to my parents to check on them,” Witt said, per a written statement (via AP News). “Sadly, the outcome was unimaginable.”
The cause of death remained a mystery until February 23, 2022, when the Massachusetts medical examiner released Mr. and Mrs. Witt’s death certificates, listing their deaths as having occurred on December 20, 2021. The probable cause was “cardiac dysrhythmia” resulting from exposure to cold, per an update posted the next day on USA Today. Neighbors stated that the house, which was in extensive disrepair at the time, had been without a working heating system for some period of time. Witt knew that her parents were living in difficult circumstances, but her attempts to intervene were spurned by the elderly couple (via E! News). Witt asked for privacy while she processed her grief (and underwent breast cancer treatment, although she did not reveal that at the time).
Alicia Witt has a rare condition in common with Brad Pitt
Paul Archuleta/Getty Images
Earlier this summer, Brad Pitt discussed with GQ his experience with face blindness, or prosopagnosia, which makes it extremely challenging to recognize or distinguish between faces, even among close friends and family. Prosopagnosia — which is unrelated to “memory dysfunction, memory loss, impaired vision, or learning disabilities,” according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke – can be unsettling both for those who suffer from it and their loved ones, as Brad Pitt shared with GQ. For Alicia Witt, who also identifies as a prosopagnosia sufferer, the challenges extend to not being able to keep track of characters in television shows and film, a known presentation of the disorder, per Faceblind.
In February 2019, Witt took to Twitter to commiserate with others who might also have trouble keeping the characters straight while watching HBO’s “Game of Thrones.” She tweeted several times in a row before revealing that part of the problem could be that she has prosopagnosia. It does not appear that Witt has spoken out publicly about it in any other context, which may be why she was not mentioned by Health Digest or other outlets writing about Pitt’s condition.
Alicia’s lip was scarred by a fluke injury
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Alicia Witt’s 2021 “Small Changes” book is not a vegan manifesto, according to Shondaland, but rather a memoir in which Witt recounts her life thus far and how she came to learn that a “few small changes to your daily habits” can “create a new lifestyle that’s bursting with energy, health, and mindfulness.” Perhaps one of the book’s most relatable anecdotes has nothing to do with food and everything to do with being on friendly, if not loving, terms with her flaws, according to E! News, which published the anecdote as an excerpt.
In 2003, while in London filming “The Upside of Anger,” Witt was seated outdoors when a cat came flying out a window above and landed on Witt’s face (!) before disappearing into the night. “Touching my face, I realized … my upper lip was completely split in two.” The incident left a scar, which Witt initially dreaded. She has since grown fond of her scar and feels touched when anyone sees it and asks her about it. “My confidence has grown immensely … ever since I abandoned the notion that I should try to be some version of what others want me to be,” she wrote. “Once I stopped worrying about my external appearance first and foremost, I feel I became a better actor, [and] I truly believe my external appearance improved, too.”
The Truth About The Hallmark Channel’s Alicia Witt
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We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. Alicia Witt is fast becoming one of the queens of the Hallmark Channel, along with Lacey Chabert (currently) and Candace Cameron Bure (formerly). Since 2013, Witt has appeared in more Hallmark Channel films than you can count on two hands, per Country Living. Moreover, in recent years, Witt has become active behind the scenes at Hallmark. She was the one who pitched 2020’s “Christmas Tree Lane,” a holiday film that, like “You’ve Got Mail,” asks the question, “will these two ever stop fighting long enough to realize they’re soulmates?” Witt also exec-produced and helmed the project’s COVID-19 production protocol, she told MediaVillage. And let’s not forget that Witt also wrote and performed two original songs for the soundtrack (via the Hallmark Christmas Movies Blog).
If you’re familiar with Alicia Witt only from her pre-Hallmark Channel oeuvre, perhaps you’re wondering if this is the same actress who was first discovered by the Hollywood prince of darkness, David Lynch? Indeed, it is, per Country Living. In fact, Witt made her film debut in “Dune,” per IMDb. And yes, we’re talking about the same Alicia Witt who played hard-boiled detective Nola Falacci on “Law and Order: Criminal Intent” and the “final girl” opposite Jared Leto in 1998’s horror classic “Urban Legend.” The actress’ career spans decades, and her range is formidable. Keep reading for the truth about the Hallmark Channel’s Alicia Witt.
We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.
If you’re familiar with Alicia Witt only from her pre-Hallmark Channel oeuvre, perhaps you’re wondering if this is the same actress who was first discovered by the Hollywood prince of darkness, David Lynch? Indeed, it is, per Country Living. In fact, Witt made her film debut in “Dune,” per IMDb. And yes, we’re talking about the same Alicia Witt who played hard-boiled detective Nola Falacci on “Law and Order: Criminal Intent” and the “final girl” opposite Jared Leto in 1998’s horror classic “Urban Legend.” The actress’ career spans decades, and her range is formidable. Keep reading for the truth about the Hallmark Channel’s Alicia Witt.
Alicia Witt was a precocious child
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She wasn’t looking for fame, but it found her
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z3Iy5zcx2I
After landing a small role in Lynch’s groundbreaking television series “Twin Peaks” and several other small roles, Witt got her first starring role as a murderous teen in the chilling 1994 film “Fun.” That led to a role in the Allison Anders-directed segment of Quentin Tarantino’s 1995 anthology film “The Four Rooms,” in which she played opposite Madonna, and a recurring role as Cybill Shepherd’s daughter on the mid-90s sitcom “Cybill.” “Urban Legend” soon followed, along with roles in television’s “The Sopranos,” “Ally McBeal,” and “Friday Night Lights.” Later came recurring roles on “Law & Order: Criminal Intent and “The Mentalist,” among many others.
Alicia Witt took on dark roles in the early part of her career
Perusing Alicia Witt’s IMDb page, one thing becomes immediately apparent: A great many of Alicia Witt’s roles — prior to her affiliation with the Hallmark Channel, which began in 2010 — were dark. As noted above, her first starring role was a teen who kills an elderly woman for “fun,” as the 1994 film is aptly titled. She was convincing enough that her chilling performance earned her the Jury Award at the Sundance Film Festival that same year, per the Los Angeles Times. As Witt explained in an interview with the LA Times in 1995, this was one of the roles she had taken in an effort to “squelch” her image as an “ethereal” beauty, which was how many apparently described her looks at the time.
“People tell me I look like a Botticelli painting or stepped out of ‘Howards End,’” she observed. Ironically, it was Witt’s “unearthly, mystical beauty” that captivated “Fun” director Rafal Zielinski, who approached Witt about starring in the film after having seen her perform on the piano at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Other roles that Witt took on around that time included a lonely high school student opposite Richard Dreyfus in “Mr. Holland’s Opus” and a juvenile delinquent opposite Madonna in “The Four Rooms.”
“People tell me I look like a Botticelli painting or stepped out of ‘Howards End,’” she observed. Ironically, it was Witt’s “unearthly, mystical beauty” that captivated “Fun” director Rafal Zielinski, who approached Witt about starring in the film after having seen her perform on the piano at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Other roles that Witt took on around that time included a lonely high school student opposite Richard Dreyfus in “Mr. Holland’s Opus” and a juvenile delinquent opposite Madonna in “The Four Rooms.”
There is a reason Alicia Witt made the transition to the Hallmark Channel
Tinseltown/Shutterstock
Although Alicia Witt occasionally angled for laughs throughout the first half of her career, dark characters, unspeakable crimes, and devastating drama were a unifying theme — until she discovered there was something appealing about wading into more lighthearted territory, she told Glamour in 2020. “If you’re making a movie about something really dark, it does something different to your psyche,” she explained. “You’ll get home from work and try to shake it off, and you’re kind of in a darker place.”
Starting in 2010 with her starring role in “Backyard Wedding,” Witt has been collaborating at least annually with the Hallmark Channel to make heartwarming, romantic productions, including more than 10 Christmas-themed TV movies, per IMDb. According to Glamour, Witt saw the benefit of balancing her “darker work” with “Hallmark’s lighter fare.” “It’s fun to come out with a movie where every day you have a happy ending and it’s a sweet love story or family story,” she’s quoted as having said in 2018 (per Glamour). “Fun” is also how Witt described the vibe on the sets of her Hallmark Channel projects. She has also said that she likes the fact that her collaboration with Hallmark makes people happy. “That sort of thing is why I wanted to be an actor in the first place: to help make the world a little bit of a better place,” she explained.
Starting in 2010 with her starring role in “Backyard Wedding,” Witt has been collaborating at least annually with the Hallmark Channel to make heartwarming, romantic productions, including more than 10 Christmas-themed TV movies, per IMDb. According to Glamour, Witt saw the benefit of balancing her “darker work” with “Hallmark’s lighter fare.” “It’s fun to come out with a movie where every day you have a happy ending and it’s a sweet love story or family story,” she’s quoted as having said in 2018 (per Glamour). “Fun” is also how Witt described the vibe on the sets of her Hallmark Channel projects. She has also said that she likes the fact that her collaboration with Hallmark makes people happy. “That sort of thing is why I wanted to be an actor in the first place: to help make the world a little bit of a better place,” she explained.
She hasn’t abandoned her dark and ironic side
Although Alicia Witt has, in the last dozen or so years, been associated with feel-good Hallmark Channel programming, she hasn’t stopped taking on roles in darker programming. For example, in 2013, the same year that Witt made her first Hallmark Channel Christmas movie (“A Very Merry Mix-Up”), she also took on the role of Wendy Crowe, a sister of the crime lord Dale Crowe and a paralegal who easily transitions to the shady side of the street when it benefits her family, per Deadline. And for Witt fans who weren’t the Hallmark Channel type, she also made an appearance in the very un-Hallmark-esque Christmas comedy “A Madea Christmas.”
In 2015, Witt took on a two-episode role in Showtime’s dark comedy “House of Lies,” per ComingSoon. The next year, she appeared in two episodes of “The Walking Dead” as the doomed zombie Paula (via Fansided’s Undead Walking). Although Witt took on another sweetly romantic role in television’s Nashville in 2016, she quickly moved back into darker, more ironic fare with appearances in David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks” reboot (2017), “The Exorcist” (2017 television series), and “Orange Is The New Black” (in 2019, she played the third in a love triangle between two main characters in the series’ final season). Most recently, she wrapped a true crime film for Lifetime, “The Disappearance of Cari Farver” (via Fansided).
In 2015, Witt took on a two-episode role in Showtime’s dark comedy “House of Lies,” per ComingSoon. The next year, she appeared in two episodes of “The Walking Dead” as the doomed zombie Paula (via Fansided’s Undead Walking). Although Witt took on another sweetly romantic role in television’s Nashville in 2016, she quickly moved back into darker, more ironic fare with appearances in David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks” reboot (2017), “The Exorcist” (2017 television series), and “Orange Is The New Black” (in 2019, she played the third in a love triangle between two main characters in the series’ final season). Most recently, she wrapped a true crime film for Lifetime, “The Disappearance of Cari Farver” (via Fansided).
Alicia Witt managed to escape the Hollywood child star curse
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
She is a legit singer/songwriter
Jeff Hahne/Getty Images
Alicia Witt had an aggressive form of breast cancer
In late May 2022, Alicia Witt revealed to her fans via Instagram that since late 2021, she’d been undergoing treatment for breast cancer, including the removal of her left breast. “There is so much more to share, and I can’t wait to do so,” she wrote at the time. On June 1, she posted a video in which she bangs a gong in celebration of having completed her chemotherapy treatment, which was neoadjuvant, meaning it preceded her mastectomy (via Instagram). “Just a little over two months ago, I had my last round of chemical therapy prior to my mastectomy,” she wrote in the caption. Although the drugs used in her chemotherapy are the kind that have historically caused hair loss, Witt used the “Cold Cap Therapy” to preserve her hair, per Boston.com.
Witt was declared cancer-free in May of 2022 (via Instagram), but will continue immunotherapy treatments through the end of 2022. This is becoming standard protocol for people diagnosed with Witt’s type of breast cancer, known as HER2-positive, which is more aggressive and more resistant to classic chemotherapy, according to the Mayo Clinic. However, in the late 1990s, an immunotherapy treatment called Herceptin became available, halving the risk of this particular cancer’s spread (per Genentech).
Witt was declared cancer-free in May of 2022 (via Instagram), but will continue immunotherapy treatments through the end of 2022. This is becoming standard protocol for people diagnosed with Witt’s type of breast cancer, known as HER2-positive, which is more aggressive and more resistant to classic chemotherapy, according to the Mayo Clinic. However, in the late 1990s, an immunotherapy treatment called Herceptin became available, halving the risk of this particular cancer’s spread (per Genentech).
She lost both of her parents in a mysterious 2021 tragedy
On December 21, 2021, just before Alicia Witt began breast cancer treatment, she suffered a devastating loss. Both her parents (Diane Witt, 75, and Robert Witt, 87, both educators, pictured above with Witt), were found deceased in their Worcester, Massachusetts home following a welfare check. Prior to that, they had fallen out of contact with everyone outside their home for several days, including Alicia (via USA Today). “I reached out to a cousin who lives close to my parents to check on them,” Witt said, per a written statement (via AP News). “Sadly, the outcome was unimaginable.”
The cause of death remained a mystery until February 23, 2022, when the Massachusetts medical examiner released Mr. and Mrs. Witt’s death certificates, listing their deaths as having occurred on December 20, 2021. The probable cause was “cardiac dysrhythmia” resulting from exposure to cold, per an update posted the next day on USA Today. Neighbors stated that the house, which was in extensive disrepair at the time, had been without a working heating system for some period of time. Witt knew that her parents were living in difficult circumstances, but her attempts to intervene were spurned by the elderly couple (via E! News). Witt asked for privacy while she processed her grief (and underwent breast cancer treatment, although she did not reveal that at the time).
The cause of death remained a mystery until February 23, 2022, when the Massachusetts medical examiner released Mr. and Mrs. Witt’s death certificates, listing their deaths as having occurred on December 20, 2021. The probable cause was “cardiac dysrhythmia” resulting from exposure to cold, per an update posted the next day on USA Today. Neighbors stated that the house, which was in extensive disrepair at the time, had been without a working heating system for some period of time. Witt knew that her parents were living in difficult circumstances, but her attempts to intervene were spurned by the elderly couple (via E! News). Witt asked for privacy while she processed her grief (and underwent breast cancer treatment, although she did not reveal that at the time).
Alicia Witt has a rare condition in common with Brad Pitt
Paul Archuleta/Getty Images
Earlier this summer, Brad Pitt discussed with GQ his experience with face blindness, or prosopagnosia, which makes it extremely challenging to recognize or distinguish between faces, even among close friends and family. Prosopagnosia — which is unrelated to “memory dysfunction, memory loss, impaired vision, or learning disabilities,” according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke – can be unsettling both for those who suffer from it and their loved ones, as Brad Pitt shared with GQ. For Alicia Witt, who also identifies as a prosopagnosia sufferer, the challenges extend to not being able to keep track of characters in television shows and film, a known presentation of the disorder, per Faceblind.
In February 2019, Witt took to Twitter to commiserate with others who might also have trouble keeping the characters straight while watching HBO’s “Game of Thrones.” She tweeted several times in a row before revealing that part of the problem could be that she has prosopagnosia. It does not appear that Witt has spoken out publicly about it in any other context, which may be why she was not mentioned by Health Digest or other outlets writing about Pitt’s condition.
In February 2019, Witt took to Twitter to commiserate with others who might also have trouble keeping the characters straight while watching HBO’s “Game of Thrones.” She tweeted several times in a row before revealing that part of the problem could be that she has prosopagnosia. It does not appear that Witt has spoken out publicly about it in any other context, which may be why she was not mentioned by Health Digest or other outlets writing about Pitt’s condition.
She is a published author and advocate of plant-based eating
“I discovered somewhat accidentally that I prefer to be 99.5% plant-based,” she told the outlet several weeks after “Small Changes” was published by a HarperCollins imprint. According to Closer Weekly, the book is a collection of Witt’s thoughts on how to find balance in life, including eating more plant-based foods. Witt, who has narrated several audiobooks — including a children’s book by the late celebrated author Paula Danziger (via Audible) — also provides the audio narration for “Small Changes.”
Alicia’s lip was scarred by a fluke injury
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Alicia Witt’s 2021 “Small Changes” book is not a vegan manifesto, according to Shondaland, but rather a memoir in which Witt recounts her life thus far and how she came to learn that a “few small changes to your daily habits” can “create a new lifestyle that’s bursting with energy, health, and mindfulness.” Perhaps one of the book’s most relatable anecdotes has nothing to do with food and everything to do with being on friendly, if not loving, terms with her flaws, according to E! News, which published the anecdote as an excerpt.
In 2003, while in London filming “The Upside of Anger,” Witt was seated outdoors when a cat came flying out a window above and landed on Witt’s face (!) before disappearing into the night. “Touching my face, I realized … my upper lip was completely split in two.” The incident left a scar, which Witt initially dreaded. She has since grown fond of her scar and feels touched when anyone sees it and asks her about it. “My confidence has grown immensely … ever since I abandoned the notion that I should try to be some version of what others want me to be,” she wrote. “Once I stopped worrying about my external appearance first and foremost, I feel I became a better actor, [and] I truly believe my external appearance improved, too.”
In 2003, while in London filming “The Upside of Anger,” Witt was seated outdoors when a cat came flying out a window above and landed on Witt’s face (!) before disappearing into the night. “Touching my face, I realized … my upper lip was completely split in two.” The incident left a scar, which Witt initially dreaded. She has since grown fond of her scar and feels touched when anyone sees it and asks her about it. “My confidence has grown immensely … ever since I abandoned the notion that I should try to be some version of what others want me to be,” she wrote. “Once I stopped worrying about my external appearance first and foremost, I feel I became a better actor, [and] I truly believe my external appearance improved, too.”
