Actress MEGAN DUFFY brings her big voice to the small screen this holiday season in the all new original ABC Family TV movie musical “The Mistle-Tones.”

Premiering this Sunday, December 9, 2012 and repeating throughout the month, Duffy joins Tori Spelling, Tia Mowry and one of our FanPop favorites Andy Gala, all on a journey to the real meaning of Christmas. In addition, Duffy can be heard on the soundtrack which features songs from the movie sung by the cast.

Originally from Chicago’s South Side, Duffy’s graduated from Northwestern University with a double major in Theatre and Sociology. After making her way to Hollywood, she was working in casting while pursuing her acting career when she was hand-picked for an on-camera role by Executive Producer Dean Devlin. Since then, she’s appeared on several television shows, including TNT’s “Leverage” and CBS’s “Criminal Minds,” along with numerous indie films.

I recently had a chance to catch up with Megan Duffy to find out more about the new movie musical, what “adorkable” means and what’s up next for this rising talent.


HOLLY: Tell us a bit about your role in the upcoming ABC Family special holiday TV movie musical “The Mistle-Tones.”

MEGAN: "The Mistle-Tones" follows Holly (Mowry), who starts her own singing group when she's turned down by the group founded by her late mother. I play Bernie, Holly's co-worker, who's shy at first when Holly approaches her to join the group. She loves to sing, but never actually IN FRONT of other people! She was a hoot to work on because she begins the movie sort of quirkily floating in her own world - she plays video games every night after work and makes super awkward jokes at company meetings - but she really grows after joining The Mistle-Tones. She comes out of her shell after spending time with ya know, other actual human beings, and we get to see her impish, fun, and daring sides as well.

HOLLY: Is this the first musical movie you’ve appeared in? What was that
like and do you like the singing part more than the straight acting
moments?

MEGAN: This is my fist movie musical, although I have done a lot of stage musicals. The musical numbers were actually slightly easier than on stage, because on stage, everyone has to nail it every time, because the audience is right there and can see you! But on film, if someone makes a mistake, you can still use a different section of that take, so as long as you have a good take of each moment, its okay if they don't all happen in the same take. The editors make us look really good! Of course you can't just screw up all the time, but it felt a bit more forgiving than a live show. I absolutely LOVED shooting the musical numbers, because they were so different from the projects I normally work on, and they really brought me back to my roots in musical theatre. My first play was Bye Bye Birdie when I was 11 years old, and I did almost exclusively musicals until I got to college. When we started learning the choreography and the songs, I was so nervous because it had been a while since my last musical, but it felt like riding a bike! It really inspired me to find a way to get music back into my life.

HOLLY: Everyone is always so happy in these movie musicals…but come on…you can tell me…are you really having that much fun all the time?

MEGAN: Honestly - yes! I hadn't had this much fun working on a project probably since I was a kid, and it really reminded me why I wanted to be an actor in the first place. Storytelling is such a powerful tool for communication, and creating something positive and funny with talented, awesome people is so fun and rewarding. Most of what I've worked on in TV and film is dark - I've played a murder victim, a hostage, a school shooting survivor - so I can't tell you what a blast it was to spend that month just being happy! Of course there were nights when we shot until 6am, and we were definitely tired and a little delirious, but the cast got along so well that even when we could barely keep our eyes open, we were laughing.


HOLLY: You’ve been referred to as “adorkable”…for those who aren’t
familiar with the word, can you explain it?

MEGAN: Ha! Well - we all know someone who doesn't really have it all together socially, but whose awkwardness only makes them more endearing. Maybe she's a bit clumsy, sings along too loudly to the radio, and makes wayyyy too many references to Battlestar Galactica... I may or may not be describing myself... She's definitely not "cool." She's a dork, but an adorable one! We like her all the more for her imperfections!


HOLLY: You’re also going to be appearing in the upcoming pilot “No-K
Cupid”…what can you tell us about this project?

MEGAN: I'm really excited about this project. It's written by Will Garroutte and stars the super talented Eden Malyn, who also produces. This show follows a group of 20-somethings through their wacky online dating fiascoes, and incorporates a lot of cool multi-media aspects that are really original. I haven't seen this concept dealt with in the way No-K Cupid is doing it, so I'm stoked to work on it! The dating world is a completely new game thanks to the internet - it's basically taken the bar scene and put it online, and there are now all these different rules to navigate. And now that the stigma has pretty much dissipated, people in their 20s are using these sites in record numbers, some people almost exclusively. The show follows the quirky online-dating newbie, Eve, played by Eden Malyn, through her trials and tribulations to find a good man online. I play her well-meaning but pushy sister Alice, who met her fiancé online, and is of course convinced that the internet is the ultimate match-making guru. Eden and I have very similar off-beat, self-deprecating senses of humor, so it was really fun to play her sister and get the chance to poke fun at her and banter back and forth.


HOLLY: Lastly, how can our readers up with your career? And, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?

MEGAN: You can follow me on Twitter at @allstuffduff and look for updates on imdb.

And, Go 'Cats! I will be watching my Northwestern Wildcats in the Gator Bowl... this is our year! Thanks so much for taking the time the chat with me!


You’re welcome, Megan!
And, we’ll be cheering for you this season…Go Megan!