If you consider yourself a Hallmark fan, it’s likely that you’ve seen Lacey Chabert on your screen at least a few times before. The 36-year-old actress, who appears in the channel’s upcoming Christmas movie Pride, Prejudice and Mistletoe, already has an impressive Hallmark resume, in addition to a couple of very recognizable big-screen roles. Here’s everything you need to know about her.
She has a long history with Hallmark.
In Pride, Prejudice and Mistletoe, Chabert plays Darcy, a woman who returns to her hometown for Christmas and is forced not only to reconnect with an old rival, Luke (played by Brendan Penny), but to plan a charity event with him. Based on the novel of the same name by Melissa de la Cruz—which is, in turn, based on the classic Jane Austen romance—the movie sees Darcy working to mend her relationship with her father as she begins falling for Luke.
It’s clear just from glancing at Chabert’s Instagram feed that she had a fantastic time shooting the movie—and that’s no surprise, given that it’s her thirteenth Hallmark film. She’s appeared in plenty of the channel’s festive offerings in previous years, including A Royal Christmas, A Wish For Christmas, and The Christmas Cottage. "I love working for Hallmark,” she said in 2015. “They've been so good to me. I have friends there now. I'm proud of their movies and the message of their movies."
She got her start on 'All My Children'
Chabert was the third actress to play the role of Bianca Montgomery on the beloved daytime soap, and starred in the show from 1992 until the following year. Her next major TV role was as Claudia Salinger on the Fox family drama Party of Five, which ran for six seasons. More recently, Chabert has appeared in the ABC Family sitcom Baby Daddy.
She’s a former Mean Girl.
But not literally! One of Chabert’s most iconic movie roles to date was in 2004’s Mean Girls, where she played one quarter of the titular clique alongside Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, and Amanda Seyfried. Her character, Gretchen Wieners, is one of the clique of "Plastics" befriended by Lohan's Cady. Alongside her three co-stars, Chabert won the award for Best On-Screen Team at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards.
“It’s a film with universal themes,” Chabert told The Huffington Post in 2014. “Everyone can relate to being bullied. Everyone can relate to wanting to fit in and being part of a clique. People relate to it. And it’s genuinely funny, it’s still funny. The comedy in it is timeless. It’s a really funny movie and I’m so glad to be a part of it.”
She keeps her marriage very private.
Chabert married her longtime boyfriend David Nehdar in December of 2013, but you won’t find any pictures from the ceremony online, or even any social media shots of the couple. Nehdar is not in the entertainment industry, and it's clear the couple prefers to keep their relationship completely out of the spotlight. Their wedding was kept secret until well after the fact, and Chabert didn’t even reveal her husband’s name at the time.
But Chabert does often take to Instagram to share incredibly sweet pictures of her daughter, Julia Nehdar, who was born in September of 2016. She’s named after Lacey’s mother, Julie Chabert.
Just in case that wasn’t enough cuteness for you, take a look back to the adorable way Chabert announced her pregnancy in February of 2016—with a little help from her pup!
Pride, Prejudice and Mistletoe airs Friday, November 23 at 8 p.m. EST on the Hallmark Channel.
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Emma Dibdin is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles who writes about culture, mental health, and true crime. She loves owls, hates cilantro, and can find the queer subtext in literally anything.
