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Christmas movies feature local talent

‘Tis the season for love stories set during the Christmas season, and two movies debuting this week will have a local flavor.

Warren native Brooks Darnell, who was known as Brooks Darnell Rodgers when he was a 2000 Warren G. Harding High School graduate, is one of the stars of “A Christmas Miracle,” which premieres at 9 p.m. today on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel, which is available on the Spectrum and Armstrong cable systems as well as Dish and DirecTV.

Nick Verina, a 2001 Niles McKinley High School graduate, has a supporting role in “Christmas a la Mode,” which premieres at 8 p.m. Friday on Lifetime and is available through the same systems.

Darnell said he plays Marcus, a photographer at a lifestyle magazine, and Tamera Mowry-Housley (who has starred in such series as “Sister Sister,” “Strong Medicine” and “Roommates”) plays the editor’s assistant.

“The editor wants a huge story for the Christmas edition,” he said. “Tamera, who plays Emma, ends up having a brilliant idea that her boss steals. But that idea isn’t what everyone thought it was, and her and I set out to find another Christmas miracle.”

Darnell, who was a regular on the CBS soap opera “Young & the Restless” and Freeform’s “Shadowhunters,” was careful not to give away any spoilers, but if the history of Hallmark Christmas movies is any guide, they also might find love.

This is Darnell’s second Hallmark movie (he did “All Yours” in 2016), and he was offered the role without an audition.

“The producer, the executive producer knew me, knew my work and they were looking to expand diversity,” he said.

Verina, who appeared on Broadway in the Stephen Sondheim musical “Falsettos” and has extensive theater credits, did have to audition for “Christmas a la Mode,” but the casting director had worked with him before, hiring him for a national Toyota commercial that aired last year.

The movie stars Katie Leclerc (who starred in the series “Switched at Birth”) as Emily, a woman struggling to save her family’s dairy farm. Her sister Dorothy comes home from her job in the corporate world in New York with plans to sell the farm, but Emily just may be able to keep the business going with the help of Dorothy’s handsome business partner (Ryan Cooper).

Verina plays Trey Bailey, a family friend and local banker who’s been helping Emily keep the business afloat. He also becomes a possible love interest for Dorothy (Jennifer Ellis).

“Maybe we get together and maybe we don’t. I don’t want to give anything away,” Verina said.

Both actors had to film their holiday stories in very un-Christmas weather. “Christmas Miracle” was shot in Vancouver, British Columbia, in August and “Christmas a la Mode” was shot in the Boston area in May.

“It’s funny to walk on the set and see all these Christmas decorations up in May,” Verina said. “We were pouring sweat in the ice cream shop scenes.”

Darnell said the highlight for him was getting to work with Mowry-Housley

“I grew up on her and her sister (on the sitcom “Sister Sister“),” Darnell said. “From the first moment we met, there was a chemistry. We loved working together.”

And while these holiday films tend to have rigid formulas, Darnell said the actors did have some freedom within the structure.

“We had a great director who let us explore and get into the nuances,” he said. “He really let us play with it and figure out what work best, and we gave them a lot of material to use.”

Verina now lives in the Boston area. While most of the acting roles have been in the theater, he said he would like to do more television and film work. He and his wife have two young children, and film and television generally require a shorter time away from home than a theatrical tour or a production with an open-ended run.

Darnell said he is booked for the next year and is working on developing his own projects, including a film that he described as a cross between “The Da Vinci Code” and “The Bourne Identity.” But he didn’t close the door on doing a third Hallmark movie.

“If I was open and if they called, after the way they treated me and how well things went, I wouldn’t say no,” Darnell said.

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