Janel Parrish and Chris McNally Talk Heart and Heritage In Hallmark Channel’s Tee For Two
“This is the first script that has come across my table where I was like I feel so seen. I feel so represented,” Janel Parrish said about playing Tee in Hallmark Channel’s Two For Tee. In the film, Parrish stars as a Chinese American pottery artist searching for a deeper connection to her heritage while teaching at a local community center. When the center is at risk for closure, she joins forces with new handyman Will (Chris McNally) to try to save it. Speaking with Pop Culture Planet’s Kristen Maldonado, Parrish and McNally talk about celebrating Chinese culture, the power of representation, and their favorite scene that almost wasn’t.
Parrish opened up about how Tee’s journey reflected her own experience navigating her identity. “I was so grateful when Hallmark brought me this script because I so very much feel me in this. Being half Chinese and being half Caucasian and growing up in a very Chinese household, but always being the least Chinese person in the household and wanting to learn more about that Chinese culture and being so in love with being part Chinese,” she told me. “I always loved being in the kitchen with my grandma and learning more about Chinese cooking and hearing stories and hearing her speak. Actually, she spoke Cantonese, not Mandarin, but I still very much always loved every time I could learn more about my culture. I felt more me.”
For Parrish, Tee for Two captured the nuance of being mixed-race and that representation is something she’s proud to bring to the screen. “The Chinese aspect of it and the culture of it, but also the half part of it too. I was like, ‘Wow, I really just feel so represented,’ and to be able to hopefully be representation for other little girls who look like me, who are like, ‘Hey, she looks like me.’ I'm always so honored when somebody comes up and says, ‘Hey, I loved you in XYZ because I see the representation,’” she continued. “That means a lot because […] representation is so, so, so important and I didn't see a lot of that growing up. I'm really happy to be part of that.”
That authenticity also extended to Tee and Will’s relationship, as two people who find a spark while working to support their community. “When you meet your co-star, you're always like, ‘Please, please.’ You say a silent prayer like, ‘Please let us along. Let it just be easy.’ We met and I was like, "Oh, this is going to be piece of cake.’ We were always laughing. We were little on set besties,” said Parrish. “It really does make everything easy because you don't have to do the work to connect. […] You can build on what's already there. It was just so easy hanging with Chris and we had a blast. When you do have a natural connection with somebody, it makes the time that you spend together fly by so fast. Now we're friends and it's great.”
The duo agreed that “the indoor lantern scene that almost wasn’t” stood out for them in the filming process. “I do like our scene that came up by accident due to the weather shift where we had to move a lantern scene inside. I think it worked out for the better time,” said McNally about the super windy night shoot they bypassed by bringing the sweet moment indoors. Parrish added, “It ended up being my favorite scene in the whole movie. I think it made it even more romantic that Will brings the lantern festival to her as opposed to bringing her there. It's the thoughtful nature of it all.”
Another highlight for the pair was the very first scene they shot featuring Tee, Will, and Will’s daughter preparing for a school dance. “It's a cute scene where they're finishing dinner and then there's a really nice nice moments in there where his daughter's expressing some hesitation and trepidation about this school dance that's coming up. He goes let me teach you, step on my feet. It also allows connection between Tee and Will simultaneously,” said McNally. “I would think that she might find it endearing this relationship that he has with his daughter and how he's treating her. Then they get to go in and have their own dance too. It was a lovely scene.”
You can catch Two For Tee premiering March 21 on Hallmark Channel and streaming the next day on Hallmark+.
