6 Things About the ‘Big Sky River’ Star

A familiar face! Kavan Smith has been stealing the show on the Hallmark Channel for nearly a decade — and fans still can’t get enough of him.

The 52-year-old actor got his Crown Media Family Network start in 2015’s Hello, It’s Me. The same year, he made his When Calls the Heart debut as Leland “Lee” Coulter, who he has played throughout the show’s nine-season run. (The series was picked up in June for season 10.)

In 2017, Smith teamed up with his When Calls the Heart love interest, Pascale Hutton — who plays Rosemary Coulter on the series — for the first of the network’s Perfect Bride films. The twosome reunited for the sequel, The Perfect Bride: Wedding Bells, two years later and worked together on 2021’s You Had Me at Aloha.

Smith will show off a different side of his acting skills in Hallmark’s Big Sky River, which premieres on Sunday, August 7, on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries. In the film, the 4400 alum plays the local town sheriff, Boone Taylor, who falls for divorcée Tara (Emmanuelle Vaugier) following her return to Parable, Montana.

“It’s really about sort of broken relationships. This guy Boone Taylor is a man who’s lost his wife and is trying to raise two boys on his own,” Smith explained during a Thursday, August 4, Facebook Live interview. “For me, it was less about the ‘boy meets girl’ and more about ‘broken family meets other broken family and we try to make it together as new family.’ And that’s really what spoke to me with this one.”

The movie, which was based on the book by Linda Lael Miller, is different than many of the rom-coms that the Wedding Bells actor has done for the network.

“Every day just got better and better and better,” Smith recalled of his and Vaugier’s time on set. “And we had such a great script based on such a good book. It was kind of unlike a lot of the other Hallmark movies. We sort of stand out a little bit.”

Last month, the Irresistible Blueberry Farm actor shared a behind-the-scenes look at the movie, posting a photo of his 46-year-old costar giggling during a take.

“So much fun making this little movie with @emmanuellevaugier can’t wait for peeps to see it,” Smith wrote via Instagram on July 1. “#BigSkyRiver No laughs were had in the making of this movie …”

The Godiva’s alum teased his onscreen evolution later that month, poking fun at his transformation into a cowboy for the role. “When I told my kids I was playing a cowboy they answered, ‘You? A cowboy?’” he recalled in a July 6 Instagram post, showing off his cowboy duds. “Kids what are you gonna do? Tune in despite my kids.”

Big Sky River premieres on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries Sunday, August 7, at 9 p.m. ET.

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