[This story contains spoilers for Virgin River season six.]
In the early seasons of Virgin River, star Benjamin Hollingsworth was wherever the trouble was, but he’s now turning his bad-boy character around in season six.
The 40-year-old Canadian actor, who saw earlier success on the CBS medical drama Code Black, eventually found his home on the Netflix series, which follows relationships, drama and romance in Virgin River, a fictional small town in Northern California. While Hollingsworth started out playing villain Brady, he was on a mission to show a different side of his character. And over six seasons (Virgin River has also been renewed for a seventh), the actor slowly stripped Brady of his mask.
“I love redemption arcs because I take your idea of what the character is and essentially that’s a mask that he has on,” Hollingsworth tells The Hollywood Reporter. “And then you see [his love interest] Brie [Zibby Allen] come along in his life and she cracks him completely open and he fully takes off his mask. And you see Brady for who Brady is, which is this little boy trapped inside this strong exterior body who’s used to trying to block out the world.”
Below, Hollingsworth chats about his hopes for his character Brady in Virgin River season seven, what he’s most excited about with his new holiday Hallmark movies, the biggest challenge he’s been able to overcome and more.
With Virgin River, which just released its sixth season and has already been renewed for a seventh, what do you make of the show’s success?
We have been blessed from the beginning with having a really strong fan base that I think benefited a lot from the pandemic because our show is all about community. It’s all about this idyllic time where we had this world where everyone lived in one community and got along and there was no divisiveness, there was no political divide. It really just didn’t matter. You just cared for your neighbor and everyone was in it together and we gathered and we celebrated and I think at that time, everyone was longing for this sense of community. And that’s really the key ingredient to Virgin River. … [And] all of that supporting cast, those characters are the ingredients of the main character which I believe is Virgin River, which also gives it an opportunity to go for a very long time because people can come and go but the town will always stay the same. The Wi-Fi will always be slow and the gossip will always be fast.
Knowing you’ll have more to explore with your character with a seventh season, what do you hope to see for Brady?
I always say Brady’s address where he gets his Amazon packages is 555 rock and hard place. He lives directly in between them and probably will never move because of his genetic makeup. He’s always getting himself in trouble. For me, it’s been a blessing to play Brady because I’ve taken him from a very stereotypical villain and he’s the only character out of all the leads that is not present in the books other than just a small three-page thing. So I was really lucky early because Sue Tenney, our original showrunner, really saw something in what I did with Brady and we decided to do a redemption arc. And I love redemption arcs because I take your idea of what the character is and essentially that’s a mask he has on. And as you see him navigate these situations, you start to see him take his mask off for even just a second or two. … And then you see Brie [Zibby Allen] come along in his life and she cracks him completely open and he fully takes off his mask. You see Brady for who Brady is, which is this little boy trapped inside this strong exterior body who’s used to trying to block out the world. And he lets her in and that for an audience is really compelling because you go on this journey with this character and you end up rooting for them. … So with that sentiment, I don’t wanna see Brady go backward. … I feel like he’s gonna go after his money. I can’t imagine he’ll just let Lark [Elise Gatien] go. … I would like to see Brady continue to pursue Brie. I think that’s the love of his life. I don’t think he should give up on her and I don’t think he’ll ever really, truly be happy again until he can be with Brie.
Benjamin Hollingsworth in ‘Virgin River’ season 5. Netflix
You also starred in two new Hallmark holiday movies this year, Deck the Halls on Cherry Lane and Christmas with the Singhs. What are you most excited for fans to see?
What I love about Christmas is that even if you’re not Catholic or Christian or Jewish, people can still feel the magic of Christmas because everyone has shifted their attitude away from politics, aggression, frustration, work and open their hearts up a little bit. … [Ahead of filming for Christmas with the Singhs] I was watching Jim Carrey movies nonstop because I love me some nostalgic Jim Carrey. But for this character in particular, I wanted to make him kind of goof. So I did a lot of physical humor and big swings on stuff and because I watched Jim Carrey, I’m like, “Oh my God, I cannot believe he got away with doing this stuff. It’s so big!” He’s literally just bouncing off of everything on set, but it’s entertaining and it’s fun. And I thought the energy in [Christmas with the Singhs] could actually work because the whole idea of the movie is fun. The other one [Deck the Halls on Cherry Lane], I play a computer scientist in 1960. So you can imagine what that looks like. I have the comb over, clean-shaven, with that old-timey way of talking. And it’s a super sweet, super cozy story of Christmas that takes place on the same street over four different decades.
Going back to where it all started, what made you first want to work as an actor?
I think it was a combination of a bunch of things. The first being, seeing a Shakespeare outdoor theater in the rounds when I was about 5 or 6. I had no idea what was going on, but the actors were speaking with such passion and Shakespeare has almost a rhythm to it and dynamic parameter, and I was drawn to it. Then there were sword fights and people dying and all these wonderful things as a 5- and 6-year-old, you’re like, “Oh, what’s this?” So that sparked my interest.
My dad had always done community theater growing up, nothing professional, but he’d do community musicals. And I remember watching him one time on stage and — he was dying on stage — everyone around was crying and really affected by it. And I felt myself having these emotions, even though I knew it was my dad on stage. I knew it wasn’t real. I then lost that sense of understanding that and was into what was happening with the character. I was like, “Wow, this is the world’s coolest magic trick. That there’s such power in telling the story that affects all these people.” … It’s so interesting and the show would be finished and I’d see my dad and I’d see him differently than I saw him before. And I looked up to my dad previous to that, but then I even looked up to him even further knowing what that takes to be a strong father figure, but then to be vulnerable enough to die on stage. It was a very poignant core memory for me.
If you have a day off, what does your perfect free day look like?
It depends on what city I’m in. I love being outside. So if I’m close to Virgin River and Squamish [British Columbia, Canada], I’ll wanna go for a hike up a mountain or something. There’s something very validating about going through a struggle to get to the top somewhere and look down. I feel like the best things in life are earned. Hard work allows you to take perspective and to feel reward. If you don’t put in any hard work, the reward is not quite as satisfying. … Life a lot of times is about perspective so I often try take those days to regain perspective because I’m with three kids — 8, 6 and 4 — and my career, which is busy enough as it is, it’s hard to take stock in life when you’re so busy. … And I do play hockey but I play hockey so much and that’s a different kind of release, that’s more of a physical kind of thing.
What’s a challenge you overcame to help get you where you are today?
I have ADHD and it wasn’t diagnosed until a year and a half ago. My son also has ADHD and I’ve learned a lot just after his diagnosis about what it was like for me growing up. Like, “Oh, this makes so much sense.” … That was something that I had fought with all the way through [school], even to this day I still struggle with it. However, it’s like that classic idea of the superhero who harnesses his power. I’ve harnessed my ADHD in a way that it has become in some aspects of my life, a superpower. When I’m on set, one of the things that’s cool about someone with ADHD is that it’s not that they can’t focus, it’s that they have trouble focusing on things they aren’t interested in. So when I’m working on something that I’m really interested in, like a character that I really love, like Brady or Dr. Mario Savetti [in CBS’ Code Black], I hyperfocus. So that type of hyperfocus is essential in acting because you have to tune everything else out. Everything has got to come right down to the actor who’s across from you and when it’s just us, just the two people on the scene, it’s almost a sense of levitating.
Rob Lowe and Benjamin Hollingsworth in ‘Code Black’ season 2. Everett Collection
What would you tell your younger self seeing where you are now?
I would just say play and enjoy every aspect of what you’re about to do. Never forget what the power of this is because that’s a special, unique power that should be respected and honored, but also never lose that sense of play. Don’t grow up emotionally. Our imagination is the only thing that regresses as we get older. Keep, plant, nourish, protect your imagination at all costs because it is your superpower and never let anyone say you can’t because you can and did.
If you had to describe what makes Benjamin Hollingsworth, Benjamin Hollingsworth, what would you say?
What makes me me? I feel like I’m very empathetic. It comes playing a bunch of different characters from different backgrounds, constantly seeing the world from different views. I’m quick to forgive because I also make a lot of mistakes. It’s part of what makes us human again. I’m constantly making mistakes, constantly learning from them and constantly apologizing for them [Laughs]. And I think what makes me me the most is that I am so grateful for each and every day that I live, like I do wake up and I feel like it’s a gift.
