This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:08] Al Malafronte: Hello and welcome to the Break a Bat Podcast, where baseball meets Broadway, an attempt to show that my two favorite mediums don't have to live in such separate worlds and maybe even break some stigmas.

[0:19] Al Malafronte: We're happy to have you with us.

[0:21] Al Malafronte: Now let's play ball.

[0:26] Al Malafronte: Hello and welcome to Break a Bat, where baseball meets Broadway and sports meets show business. I'm your host, Al Malafronte, coming at you with a very special kickoff to the holiday season here in the Batter’s Box, and I couldn't be more pumped for it. This time of year has always been my favorite in general, but also from a hosting perspective. Having done this show for over two years and over a hundred episodes now, I find it no coincidence that my short list of favorite shows has always seemed to fall from October onwards. Just getting behind the mic today, I kind of felt this sense of magic and excitement that you can rank up there with the anticipation I feel before a big Yankee playoff game.

Today we're gonna welcome someone who I've always wanted to have on Break A Bat, and I put off the reach out because I wanted to make it a special occasion. And there's nothing more special than the holidays here in New York. And I think the work that my guest today does, both on screen and off of it, very much embodies what this time of year is all about. For the folks at home, I'm not sure what age demo you're in today, but our special hitter has a body of work and show business that now spans nearly three decades. She got her start on the Mickey Mouse Club back in 1993, helped form the girl group Innocence soon thereafter, starred in the MTV hit dramedy Awkward, and in recent years has really cemented herself as part of the fabric of the holiday season as one of the true faces of the Hallmark Channel's phenomenal lineage of Christmas films.

What I've always admired about our special hitter is how, regardless of her success, she's always been so down to earth. She's a tremendous advocate for both the Alzheimer's Association and the Children's Hospital Los Angeles, two organizations that are tremendously close to her heart. Most recently on screen, she starred in Taking the Reigns on Hallmark, which just premiered a few weeks ago to give us all those fall vibes that we love. And on Saturday, November 20th, you'll see her back on the Hallmark All-Star team when she returns to Hallmark Movies and Mysteries' Miracles of Christmas lineup with an all-new film titled Five More Minutes, in which she stars, and we're beyond excited about that. I'm so grateful she could join us tonight. So with that being said, I ask you all to please turn your attention to Home Plate, just beyond the marquee. Now batting, Nikki DeLoach.

[2:50] Nikki DeLoach: That was such an incredible introduction. Thank you so much. I'm so honored. It never gets old to hear your stats on the back of the baseball card, right? Well, I'm here 30 years and I'm like, ooh, ow. But you know, I have to say, it is something I'm also really proud of. It's easy to look at that and go, oh man, I must be really old. Except for I started when I was like seven. And I think the, you know, it's humbling because the fact that I've made it 30 years and I can pay my bills doing this, I feel is the equivalent of like winning an Oscar. Because it is so hard, which is one of the things I love about your podcast, you're blending two worlds that I feel like are so similar in sports and entertainment, because you never know what's gonna happen.

You never know if your effort is gonna pay off in the end, right? There's a thousand different things that can get in the way of that. And also you never know if you're gonna be able to actually make a living doing what you love to do inside of this. So the fact that I've been able to do that is really, I mean, and there's been some really, really bad years. But the fact that I've been able to do it is truly a blessing.

[4:12] Al Malafronte: You know what's interesting, you talk about your staying power, for example. It didn't necessarily turn out for most people who start at the age that you did. Why do you, what do you attest your success and longevity to at the end of the day, Nikki?

[4:28] Nikki DeLoach: I'm pretty good with rejection. I had one of those, you know, mothers and grandmothers as a young girl who was very honest about things like, um, your forehead's too big, your hair looks terrible that way, you need to put on some lipstick, you shouldn't like, you know, so I was very used to constructive criticism and also very used to just kind of getting told things that you're like, ouch, that hurts, but also at the same time, you gotta figure out a way to just keep going. And I actually am so grateful for it because I think it really served me in this industry because I've been rejected so many times. I have quote unquote failed so many times, and yet I'm that person that's like, cool, see you next week.

Well, Nikki, we're going into it in a different direction. Great. Let's go to lunch on Tuesday. Like, I mean, I think that's one of the things is the fact that like I had to get really comfortable. And also I experienced a real turning point. I would say in my 20s. We went through a writer's strike in this industry. And I had really been, you know, I had gone through some valleys, man, some peaks and been on shows and series regular, and then for a year, like couldn't get a job and then got a job, and then two years during the writer's strike, every movie I booked just fell apart. And I pretty much didn't really work except for a few tiny little morsels here and there. And it was at that point that I really, a couple of things happened.

Number one, I decided, do I want to stay in this business? Do I love it enough what I do to stay in the game? The conclusion was yes, number one. So, how do I maintain my joy and my happiness and also the playfulness and creativity that you have to have to keep going forward in a business that really seeks to kind of destroy your creative joy and your self-worth at the same time? So, how do I do that? And so I really kind of decided like number one, I gotta diversify my portfolio in terms of the things that help me to bring in money, and also things that make me happy because all of my eggs were put into one basket for the majority of my life at that point. And so this I became a teacher, you know.

I started writing, I got interested in producing. I really began to diversify. And once I opened up my mind and really opened up my heart and saw that there were other avenues to be a storyteller, truly, then it became so much easier when the no's came, no after no after no, because I was like, all right, whatever, moving on because I got this other thing that I'm doing and I'm gonna go do that.

[7:36] Al Malafronte: You know what's interesting? I primarily know you from your work on screen. But even in interviews that you've done in the past, you just strike me as a very positive person. When things weren't going your way, did you ever stray from that at all? Because I feel like you did.

[7:51] Nikki DeLoach: Interesting. Hello, darkness, my old friend. My favorite, one of my favorite songs, by the way.

[7:57] Nikki DeLoach: Yeah, me too. Um, yeah, there were some really dark valleys that I had to sit in. And I think, you know, we're a society that's so obsessed with the light, right? Finding the light and staying in the light. But the problem with that is the darkness is where we learn. That is where we transform. That is when we expand, right? And it's an opportunity. So not being afraid of being in the darkness is really critical because if we can trust ourselves inside of it and know that it's for us and it's on purpose, then the people that we become on the other side of it, you know, are we're more resilient. We are more grounded, we are more focused on what's really important, and we learn the lessons that we need to become the people we were put here to be.

[8:47] Al Malafronte: You know, one thing that you said before that really stuck with me, and it kind of leads me to something I wanted to touch on. You talked about coming back from your failures. You know, in baseball, you could fail seven out of ten times and make it to the Hall of Fame. You know, a 300 hitter could strike out seven at bats in a row, but if he goes three for three, or even if, you know, intermittently he goes, you know, one for three per game, he's a 333 hitter.

[9:13] Nikki DeLoach: That's right.

[9:14] Al Malafronte: You have a little bit of a hard. Think about it. Think about Tyler. Is it Tyler Matzik who plays for, does he play for the Braves?

[9:23] Nikki DeLoach: Uh, Tyler, yes.

[9:25] Al Malafronte: So he went away for like 10 years. He came out of the gates like guns blazing, and then in like 2000 and something, nine, ten, and then went away for like 10 years, and then is now like coming back and having a moment, you know. I think about those players too. It's not just the ones that go and like are really in a slump in terms of their batting, but what about the people who like have to go back down to the minors and like eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?

[9:56] Nikki DeLoach: Yeah, yeah, that's right. There's, you know, been examples of guys. I mean, Kurt Warner, different sport, you know, was the same stocking, you know, stocking shelves at a supermarket, for example, goes away and goes on to ultimate glory. And you know, you mentioned your Atlanta Braves. That's the thing about Tyler Matzik. He's not just pitching in the big leagues, which is an impressive feat in itself, but he's doing it on a great team. I really questioned whether or not it was a coincidence that you came on as your hometown Atlanta Braves might be headed to the World Series. How stoked are you right now, Nikki?

[10:28] Nikki DeLoach: It's pretty cool. I've got to admit, it's really, it's really cool. And I don't know if you know, but I have some friends that play in Major League Baseball. My brother played baseball at UGA. And he played with a group of kids who are, I mean, the brotherhood that existed between these boys. I've got stories that just would make you cry. Like, um, for example, you know, their freshman year, um, uh, Chance Beaudoin, who was an all-state player at the time. All of these kids that were already really close friends, they had been traveling and playing against each other for years. And um, they all ended up going and getting on the team at UGA. And Chance in his freshman year, he got hit by a car and was paralyzed from the waist down.

And it was these kids all came together and rallied and, you know, went to his parents and said, we'll take care of him. He needs to stay in college with us. Don't take him home, don't bring him home, let him stay with us. We will take care of him. We will transform our house to make it handicapped safe. We will do everything that we need to do. And the brotherhood there that exists is such a beautiful thing. But it was my brother, Brett DeLoach, Alex Wood.

[12:00] Nikki DeLoach: Oh yeah, former, yeah, a pitcher, yeah, sure. I remember that. Yes, and he was an all-star with either the Reds or the Dodgers. Very good pitcher. Very good pitcher, Kyle Farmer, who's having a moment with the Reds right now. So he, but, and the crazy thing is, is so Alex gets it, you know, he gets on the Dodgers. Kyle is like, you know, busting his butt in the minors. And I mean, like when I say, I mean, like, you know, you get paid like four dollars a week in the minors, you know, it's really tough.

[12:32] Nikki DeLoach: And Kyle then finally gets a chance. He works his butt off and finally gets a chance to be bumped up to the majors. And he, the Dodgers take him. So Alex and Kyle play on the Dodgers at the same time. He comes. I don't know if you saw the video of Kyle's first hit as a major league player. I don't know if you see it for like it was insane. And I couldn't even like two of my like family, the two of them are family. Here they are playing on the Dodgers, and I get to go to the stadium, I get to like watch them. And then, you know, they one went to the Reds and eventually went, you know, Alex went to the Giants. Um, but you know, we I talk all the time about the fact that like the journey of the entertainer and the journey of the athlete are so just to bring it around to where we started, they're so similar.

They're, you know, I mean, even down to the fact that like you are a commodity to a business, and you can be traded, you can be like just let go. You can, I mean, like, you know, it's they think they don't think of you necessarily sometimes as a human being, and instead, like you are a business deal.

[13:47] Al Malafronte: Now, is the reason why you've stayed a part of the Hallmark team for so long because they don't think of you as a commodity, so to speak, because it is still a business? I mean, is that part of why though? Because of that, like, you know, that cult the organizational culture that certain baseball teams have, for example, that makes it appealing for players to stay.

[14:06] Nikki DeLoach: Yeah, actually, I think that when you've been treated as a commodity your entire career, that when you find a place where somebody treats you like a human being, you want to stay and you want to be a part of that. And you not just that, but you want to help them build it, right? You know, and Hallmark has been, it's unlike any other network I've ever worked for. You know, how many networks can you just pick up the phone? And you know, unless you're like the biggest star on that network, you know, uh, as like Carrie Washington was when she was doing her show on ABC. I'm sure she could have picked up the phone and called the head of ABC. But for me, you know, I've never been in a position and I've worked for, you know, so many networks where I could just pick up a phone and call the head of the network and have a real conversation, or you know, um have lunch with the executives and not have to talk about business, but how are you as a human being?

How can I support you as a human being? You know, there's so many executives at Hallmark that I've never even worked with, but I know them as friends. We go to lunch as friends, and that's just, you know, some it's just such a culture that is unique and rare in this industry, and I am all for it.

[15:24] Al Malafronte: You know, you talk about a unique culture, and it actually takes me back, you know, to great leadership that your Atlanta Braves had under Ted Turner when guys like John Smoltz and Tom Glavin and Greg Maddox had an opportunity to leave for big contracts in free agency, but they didn't because they were so enamored with the way they were treated as human beings and you know, they went on to accomplish many great things with the Braves. I have to know, as a kid, were you going to Fulton County Stadium and then Turner Field to catch a lot of Braves games while they were winning those division titles?

[15:58] Nikki DeLoach: No, we didn't really have the money for that whenever I was younger. Um, I mean, my, you know, my parents worked so hard, my dad worked six-day weeks, but my mother was a teacher, and uh teachers, I mean, even in 2021, do not make what they deserve to make, but imagine back then what they were making. So we didn't really have the money to do that. Um, but you know, uh, we go all the time, like my husband and I we go all the time to watch Dodgers games. We take our boys. Um, it's one of my favorite things in the world to do is go to a sporting event. I grew up playing sports. I'm a big believer in women and girls playing sports. Um, especially growing up in the South, because you know, it seems very clear that like a lot of people raised their daughters to be these princesses with these dresses and their hair with the bows and the this, and I was not interested in being a princess unless it was Princess Leia.

She was life-changing to me. I was like, wait, she's the head of the resistance? She's the leader, she's the leader of the army. Women get to do that. Like, I literally, it just blew my mind. Blew my mind. I fan forever because it was the first time I saw a princess that I could get down with, right? And so I was, I was an athlete. I played basketball, I played softball, I played any kind of ball that you can put in my hands. I was a dancer for 20 years, I was a gymnast for 13 years. Um, I was an athlete, you know, and I feel that the power of young girls learning to work on a team is so valuable, and it's so valuable for boys, but we talk about it with boys, we don't talk about it a lot with girls.

[17:45] Nikki DeLoach: And I feel like it has served me so well in my life to really be able to pull people together and see like, oh, where's the person's strength, right? Where is this person strong? Uh, um Abby Wombach was talking recently in an interview, and I was like, yes, yes, yes, that's exactly right. She was saying that, like on the women's uh, you know, soccer team, she was saying that the cool thing about that specific team was that, you know, people didn't go, oh, well, she's strong in that. I gotta get stronger so I can beat her. There was none of that. It was like, okay, well, I know my strengths and I know my weaknesses, but where I'm weak, this player is strong, and where she's weak, this other player is strong.

And you learn to really lean into everybody else's strengths by also acknowledging the things that you aren't as strong in. And I think that you learn that stuff when you grow up playing ball. You're like, okay, I'm not the best free throw shooter, but you know who is? You know, Angie. Like, so you start to learn that, and it really, really, really, really helps you and serves you later on in life, especially with in team building.

[18:59] Al Malafronte: Right. You know, it's funny. It what you just said kind of takes me to a quote that another great leader that I admire said was uh Glenn Fry. I'm a big Eagles fan. He's saying you know, it's like a rock's a rock band's not a perfect democracy. Uh not everybody was like, not everybody gets to touch the ball all the time, but acknowledging that though, even as like a great frontman or a front woman, you know, in the sport that you're playing in on stage or set that that really goes a long way. And it it allows, I don't know, it just allows you to recognize what's best for the overall group. And I think that's what separates the greats, right? That's really what separates the greats.

[19:38] Nikki DeLoach: Yes. It's you know, taking the reins. Um, you mentioned the fall movie that I did for Hallmark. Well, I did that with this incredible human being named Scott Porter, who played my co-star, and he's Friday Night Lights alum. Um, and he's been on a hundred and thirty different shows, uh, really accomplished actor. And um, we were very lucky to get him. And I was talking to him last night, actually, because while shooting that movie, my dad was dying. And it was the hardest thing. Um, doing that movie was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life. Um, I didn't want to leave my dad. I was there with him for three weeks. Um, I had to go do this thing. I was producing it. I had my writing partner and I were producing it.

We had rewritten the script. Um, and we were both starring in it. And pulling out just really wasn't an option. It would have been a really poor thing for me to do. Uh, but I knew what kind of head space I needed to be in to be the number one on the call sheet on one of these movies, right? Because the way I like to be on a movie set is not only like you show up every day prepared, like ready to go, like we're not gonna be practicing on set when it's time to shoot. We are playing a game, right? It is the championship game, you come to play. And um, but also it's the way that you treat people and engage with people on a daily basis. You see them, you see everyone from the craft services to the director to the electrics and grip and everybody, and you make sure they're taken care of and they have everything they need.

And well, that's how I like to be on a set. I did not have it in me to be a hundred percent of who I was, because I was just trying to get through the day. And Scott Porter, the incredible human and leader that he is, he also, by the way, played football. I think he actually got a football scholarship to go to college and play football um in Florida. And so that's where he started, and maybe that's why he is the way he is too. We both come from athletics. He just like stepped in and I told him last night, I said, I I I don't know how to I can't thank you enough. I am so grateful for the human being that you are because while you because you were there, I was able to not fall apart. And, you know, I think that that's so important to bring people into your world who also, you know, have incredible leadership skills. I like to say I like to hire people that are better and smarter than me because I mean like it's only gonna help.

[22:26] Al Malafronte: Well that you two. Yeah, and I usually don't agree with Alex Rodriguez, but one quote of his that stands out to me a lot is you are the you are the sum of the five people that you're closest with, the five people that you surround yourself with the most.

[22:41] Nikki DeLoach: That's right. Right. So that I think I think that kind of applies there. But that that's what that's another quote that came to mind when he said that.

[22:48] Al Malafronte: Yeah, I love, yeah, you're right. I don't uh I don't really quote A Rod that much, but that that's that is a good one. And I will be I will be re we quoting that one.

[23:01] Nikki DeLoach: Have you ever met him?

[23:03] Al Malafronte: No, no, no, no.

[23:07] Nikki DeLoach: I would love to see how that interaction would go. Hi, it's so nice to meet you. You're an asshole. Um I'm going to leave now. Um I don't know. You know, maybe he's different in real life.

[23:23] Al Malafronte: Maybe he's different in person.

[23:26] Nikki DeLoach: I don't know. I I don't know. Like it's hard to tell who I I do know that there's a lot of people that I know that people are like, he's a jerk, he's an awful person, but I know that person personally and know them to be amazing. Um so I don't know, but like from from the outside, right? It it's it uh a Rod is eh.

[23:47] Al Malafronte: Well, here's the thing. I'm not sure if you've been watching, because I guess the uh the Braves have been on TBS for this playoff so far, but uh he's been doing the the Fox coverage for the American League, and then the World Series would be play it on Fox. I do have to ask, I know you've spent some time around Dodger Stadium, but let's say if you know the Dodgers go on to knock out Atlanta, will you still be watching the World Series or will it be you still be watching a little bit of Arod during that?

[24:15] Nikki DeLoach: Okay, yeah, um and also I'm I'm a big Dodgers fan.

[24:19] Al Malafronte: You're not even a Braves fan.

[24:21] Nikki DeLoach: I've been talking about like Tom Glavin and John Smoltz, too, and you probably don't know.

[24:24] Al Malafronte: No, I love the Braves.

[24:26] Nikki DeLoach: No, I love the Braves. I think like, you know, I grew up in a house where sports were just on the TV all the time. It was like my family would watch the Little League championship that was being aired locally, you know. Like they would watch anything sports related. So I and I think that there's, I don't know, there's something beautiful about a bunch of people coming together to cheer people on, you know, especially at a time in our country where things are so you know politicized and divided and divisive. It's like you get a bunch of people in a stadium or even sitting at home on their TVs cheering for people and that energy going in one straight direction.

[25:06] Nikki DeLoach: It's kind of a beautiful thing. It's like the reason I cry when I watch musicals, you know, it's the movement out of all of it and all the pieces that came together and the song and this and that. It's like kind of the same feeling for me when I go to see a musical.

[25:25] Al Malafronte: Now, did you always love musicals? Because I've heard you say in the past, like, oh, yeah, interesting, because I've heard you say in the past that like when you joined Mickey Mouse Club, for example, singing wasn't your forte. Were you listening to cast albums and just like not singing along? Have you always loved Broadway? Give me some insight to that.

[25:41] Nikki DeLoach: Well, listen, I could sing for sure. You know, you can. I heard you recently in the Hallmark Christmas concert. You do kind of a banger version of Up on the House Top. I love it.

[25:51] Al Malafronte: Oh, you're so sweet.

[25:53] Nikki DeLoach: I mean, I can carry a tune. I can sing. I did some solos on Mickey Mouse Club. I was in the music business for a long time. But when you're singing next to the likes of Christina Aguilera, Rona Bennett, who's now in Invogue, um, Jennifer McGill. Uh, you know, I like when you're singing next to those people, you kind of just like let them have the mic and you get in the background and you dance real hard for them, you know. You like give, you know, you give them some like really good, like background vocals, some really soft, nice background voices. You do not get in their way, you just like support them from behind and just like, you know, dance and do your thing. And that was another great thing about that show, is kind of teaching you at a really young age that about the Mickey Mouse Club that everybody gets their turn, right?

Everybody gets their turn. You're not gonna be the star every single day. You're not gonna get all the solos, you're not gonna get all the skits, you're not gonna get all of that. Everybody takes a turn. And that was a really cool thing. I think again, served me so much growing up of like when I go in to get a role, and then I find out this person got it, and I'm like, you know what? It was her turn. Good for her, right?

[27:09] Al Malafronte: Yeah. As far as the Broadway thing goes, then how'd you get into like because you know, growing up in Georgia and not going to shows as a kid and everything, was there a certain introduction that you had to the musical theater scene?

[27:20] Nikki DeLoach: My grandmother, my Nana. So Nana, Mary Thompson. Um, who's oh my gosh, that's so weird. She just called, like, literally just called me as I said her name. That was so crazy. And here is Nana. She would love listen, Al. If you think I can talk, Nana can talk, okay? I probably got it from her. So my Nana had actually a beautiful voice. And she, her dream was actually to be a singer, but you know, this was so many years ago and small town, it was never really gonna happen for her. But I would watch musicals with her. I stayed with her every weekend, and we would go to the video store and we would rent movies. And I mean, I must have watched everything from The Sound of Music to My Fair Lady to Funny Girl.

Funny Girl is one of my favorite movies of all time. I love musicals. Singing in the Rain, Make 'Em Laugh, Make 'Em Laugh, is one of my favorite pieces of just anything that I've ever seen in a movie. That scene, what she does in that scene, um, is just incredible. I so, you know, that's where my like I was like, oh my gosh, people do this. Like they make like they actually do this. This thing that I love doing, I started as a dancer. Like they actually like do it and it becomes a movie or a musical, or you know, it was just a mind-blowing thought for me as a kid that like you can actually do that for a living. And so that's I just was like, I'm gonna do that, you know. And so it started with dancing, and then I got in singing lessons, and then I won a talent competition that took me to Los Angeles, and then at that talent competition in Los Angeles, there were a bunch of agents there.

And um, they were like, Can you, you know, I was 11 and my mom was, and they asked my mom if she could move out to LA with me, and she was like, absolutely not. I will not be moving to California. So they told me about, you know, in a year they're gonna have auditions for the new Mickey Mouse Club. And it was a dream come true. It really was. As a kid who started watching musicals at three years old, I was like, I cannot believe I'm about to go do the thing that is my dream.

[29:49] Al Malafronte: What was LA like for a young kid? I mean, I know you were with your mother, but did you get into the scene? Like, is it tempting and seductive in some ways just because like I it I know it wasn't New York in you know the early 1990s, but like what was it? What was that scene like, you know, as a young girl?

[30:08] Nikki DeLoach: You know, I so a Mickey Mouse Club was in Florida. We they had moved everything to Florida, but I did go to LA at 15 after the Mickey Mouse Club was over. And I've kind of lived here, except for when I was in the music business. I've lived here since I was 15. And I can tell you, um, I was not a kid who was interested in going anywhere um and partying or doing any of that. That really didn't happen till the music business where I kind of like had the time of my life for about three years. Um, I was really focused on school. I was really focused on my auditions. I was really like I was that kid that, you know, I was a kid at that at six years old would say, I need more private lessons. I, you know, I would skip the spend the night parties and instead because I would want to get up on Saturday morning and go do a private lesson at eight o'clock in the morning.

You know, I was just so focused on what I wanted to do because it brought me so much joy to be able to do it. And um, so I didn't really get in the scene. There was a lot of, I mean, like, you know, there was a lot of kids out here at the time whenever I was 15 years old, like doing the industry, and I was more of a sit at home with a book kind of kid.

[31:28] Al Malafronte: Oh. Now you're still out in LA. The rest of the family's still back in Georgia?

[31:33] Nikki DeLoach: No, yeah. Now, are you gonna go back and see them for Christmas? Are they gonna come see you?

[31:39] Nikki DeLoach: Well, I think I'm gonna go. My because, you know, I have uh two children, and the youngest, who's four, is very um compromised inside of COVID. He's had three heart surgeries. So um we can't fly. We drove cross country over the last like uh inside of COVID, we drove cross-country like three times. So I could spend time with my family, especially my dad. Um, but we're not gonna make that drive this Christmas. Instead, I'm gonna fly by myself to go see my family before the holidays. And then my husband and my kids will have uh Christmas here in Los Angeles this year. And it's a bummer. It's a real bummer. But until I'm able to get both of my kids vaccinated, I just can't put them on a plane.

[32:26] Al Malafronte: Um, you know, you touched on, you know, some of the medical issues that your youngest son goes through. I think it's so admirable what you do from a philanthropy front. Um it not just with Children's Hospital LA, but of course with uh the Alzheimer's Association, which I know is also near and dear to your heart because of your grandfather and your father as well. Um you had a quote, I I just loved it, and it really hit home for me. I think you had said once, this is why I work, to have an opportunity to raise awareness. Can you tell the folks at home a little bit about what you're doing this holiday season for both of these causes that are so close to your heart?

[33:07] Nikki DeLoach: Thank you for asking that, Al, and thank you for saying that. I really appreciate it. Um, yeah, you know, my uh it's so funny because there, like I told you, I was that kid that was so focused on, you know, quote unquote making it in this business or getting to just survive doing what I love to do, and then you know, at some point in time in my life, like everything just shifted. And I really learned that actually that's not my purpose, really. Like, you know, I love being an actor, I love being a writer, I love being a producer. It's an incredible job, and it is certainly where my like so much of my passion resides. But my purpose is in serving others. That's why I'm here. That's why I think we're all here is to be of service to humanity, and you can do that through a lot of different, you know, modalities.

Like you can do that, and I my work, what I do allows me to have a platform, and it allows me to be able to have a network of people that I can reach out to, right? So it provides me with a special opportunity to be able to serve in the way that I do. But that is I work to in order to be a part of organizations like CHLA and the Alzheimer's Association. So coming up, we have a walk, uh, the walk to end Alzheimer's on November 6th. I do it every year with the Williams sisters, Ashley Williams and Kimberly Williams Paisley. We do a team together. They lost their mother. I lost my grandmother and my dad. Uh, my dad is recently as two months ago. And um, and so we this is a cause that's so near and dear to our heart, and the numbers are only gonna go up substantially in the next 10 years.

So, this is something that we really have to now, right now, pour money into research and in order to find, you know, new ways of fighting this neurodegenerative disease, actually. Um, so the Alzheimer's Association, the thing that's so cool about them is like, of course, we have the NIH, which is the National Institute of Health. It's a government agency and they are researching, you know, a hundred different diseases or illnesses, and the red tape there is tremendous, right? It's a great organization. But what the Alzheimer's Association does is if you pour your money into them, a study that the NIH might not even be able to get to until 10 years from now, they can do it now. They can do it today, and they will they will be able to have an answer on this study in a shorter period of time.

So it makes sense to pour your money if you care about Alzheimer's, if you care about dementia, your money and your energy into organizations that are on the ground doing this work now. Um, so the walk is on November 6th. You can go to Instagram uh uh on my page, Nikki DeLoach, N-I-K-D-E-L-O-A-C-H. You can click on my link tree, and then you can, it'll say 2021 walk to end Alzheimer's. You can go and donate, or you can go and join my team and walk with us from anywhere around the country or around the world. So that's what we're doing. That's what we've got up coming up for Alzheimer's and then CHLA. Um, so I'm a board member there. So the work there is all year round. Um, you know, we have March Matters and we have fundraising events that are, you know, throughout the year.

And then specifically around the holidays, you know, one of my favorite things to do is to sponsor a family. Because all of these families then have to spend Christmas and the holidays, and some of these kids have been there for months. I mean, and some of them are just there for a couple of weeks, but imagine spending Christmas inside of a hospital. And some of these families, you know, when I did it the first year, um, you get this list of Christmas of a wish list from a family. And the mother wrote down, she was a single mother. She had three kids, and she wrote down, I mean, like literally, this has been like four years ago, and it still makes me cry thinking about it. Um, she wrote down toilet paper. And I was like, toilet paper?

[37:28] Nikki DeLoach: Like, are you kidding me? Yeah, that that's how basic the needs are for some of these families. Like, not only are there kids fighting an illness that, you know, they, you know, in a children's hospital of Los Angeles, the cool thing is you can come from anywhere in the world or anywhere in the country, or you know, and obviously California, and we will figure out a way to pay for your kid to get health care. No child is turned away ever. And that's why we raise so much money for the hospital. And kids do come from all over because the specialized care that they are given at a hospital like CHLA is unmatched. I mean, they're curing childhood blindness there. It is remarkable the things that they are doing. And so, you know, for me, there is nothing more important than saving the life of a kid, period.

[38:21] Al Malafronte: You're amazing, you know that. I'm serious. It's just like guys, I know how genuine this is to you. And that's that's why, like I said, I wanted to have you on this time of year. Because I mean this this is a message that people need to get behind now more than ever. Especially, you know, it's just it's so refreshing to hear that people like you are using your platform the way that they are. And just stories like that really, you know, uh make me want to contribute, and all the folks at home should as well, however, they can. Just uh unreal, Nikki.

[38:58] Nikki DeLoach: Thank you, Al. I really appreciate that so much. I mean, it is everything. It really is. Like when, you know, the basic necessities of life. And when I, you know, I am a person who is a big person of faith. And I think that we sometimes, you know, get very confused about what that looks like without putting anyone's the way that they move through their faith. I'm I'm not trying to put anyone down, but like really and truly we are supposed to come to this earth to serve humanity. Like, if you want to talk about the walk of Jesus, right? What did Jesus do? He went to those who are in need. And for me, the greatest measure of a good country is how we take care of those who are most vulnerable. And we can do better, and we need to do better.

[39:57] Al Malafronte: I'm in your camp, Nikki. Um thing I do want to make sure I touch on because I know our time's short, is uh, you know, you have a new film coming out in just another week or so here on November 20th. Um, I I know Hallmarks on some creative stuff before, but this new one you're in, five more minutes. I found it interesting that uh Scott McCreary song inspired this one. I know you've been in pretty involved on the production side of things over at the network. Did you have anything to do with this particular idea and bringing it to life?

[40:28] Nikki DeLoach: Well, it's so funny because while I was filming five more minutes, the movie that my writing partner and I wrote was filming right down the street, which was so cool. Yeah. Which is aka Canada. Um we, you know, that was a really cool experience to, you know, that was a movie that we wrote that I didn't have any intentions of being in. It's um, you know, these kids, 29 year olds. We wanted to do a movie, and I'll get into five more minutes in a second, but the one that we wrote that I would love people to also see, it's called Christmas for Keeps. And um, we wanted to do something really different at the network as writers. We wanted to create essentially the what is the big chill version of Hallmark?

Like, what would that look like if we did that on the network with an ensemble cast where the a storyline was not a romance, and also how do we really so both myself and my writing partner are both educators, you know. Um, her actually literally, she has her master's, two masters in education, uh, me just as an acting teacher, but my mom was an educator, my sister was an educator, they're lifers, they spent their whole lives in education. And my greatest inspirations in my life, the majority of them were all teachers, and so we were like, how do we also honor, especially in this year and a half that has been such a nightmare for so many teachers and the ways that they have shown up for these students, and some of them not given the things that they need, you know, in a pandemic.

Um, and here they are showing up and doing the hard work. So, how do we also honor them? So, it's a movie about a group of friends coming together for the first time in a long time. It is about honoring educators and what they give us and how they inspire us. And um, it's beautiful, and it's called Christmas for Keeps. Um, but I never wanted to be in that one. I just wanted to write, and the other one is called Five More Minutes. And I have to say, it was sent to me. The script was sent to me by Hallmark um like just after my dad died, literally the night before my dad's funeral. Um I couldn't sleep all night long. So I decided just to open, I was like, well, I might as well read this script because they need an answer on whether I can, you know, do it or not.

The movie or the song Five More Minutes, Scotty wrote it about his grandfather who had passed, and he made a wish that he could just have five more minutes with him. And so I I'm reading this script. My dad has just died, like literally two days prior, just died. My dad, who was my North Star, my my source of unconditional love in my life. And I'm reading the script about grief and going, how am I going to be able to do this? Like emotionally, how am I gonna be able to do this? I don't know, but I prayed about it, and I I was given the answer that I had to, you know, and it's this beautiful story about finding different ways to connect to those who have crossed over to those we have lost. And what I have learned in my journey of my dad, especially with the journey of dementia, they always say, people say, like, they're not there.

They're nowhere inside there. They're gone. And you know, you don't need to see them, or you don't know, like, they don't know who you are. They don't like, I have witnessed the complete opposite. My dad may not have been able to say my name. That man knew exactly who I was because his soul knew who I was. There were things that happened with my dad that can only be described as wow, that is a soul connection and it is divine. He knew exactly who I was. He waited for me. So I rapped taking the reins. I got home. I got to bed at 5 a.m. And the last thing I had said to him before I left for Connecticut is I'm going away for three weeks. If you can hold on, sorry. If you can hold on, I will be back.

I won't be back. And I want to hold your hand. Don't take your last breath in this world without me. That man, he held on, Al. Like, I took the last flight out of the Northeast, like, literally had to drive to JFK to get to him. I got to him at 11 o'clock at night. He passed at 11 in the morning. He waited for me. And that soul connection, we forget about how big and divine and powerful it is. And it extends beyond physicality. And I think for me, you know, doing this movie was a love letter to my dad of like, I will never let go of hope that you are right there with me all the time, right? And I think that, like, especially in a year and a half where we've lost hundreds of thousands of human beings there's never been more of more there's never been a a more important time to say to people have hope right have faith you have not lost them forever they are still there and this movie is about that about not losing hope inside you know your heartache um and it was such a a gift to be able to do it and I feel a part of me actually healed doing it.

[45:39] Al Malafronte: I can't wait to watch it Nikki um bring your Kleenex what'd you say bring your Kleenex yeah I mean um first of all I mean I'm so I knew it was recent and I'm so sorry for your loss and I'm so grateful that you were down to you know obviously come on the show today but you know to talk about this in such a personal way I just um, you know, knowing some of the inspiration behind your performance I think that you know, I don't want to make this just the compliment show but there's a reason why your work you know sticks with so many people like myself and you know I I really hope all the folks at home listening today watch watch this because uh yeah it's just what you just said is just um it hits home it hits home for me personally too which you're awesome seriously.

[45:39] Nikki DeLoach: Thank you for saying that and thank you for letting me share it. I mean some so many people get really uncomfortable, you know, when when people get emotional or when they talk about really hard things or grief. And I have found that our society has a really interesting relationship with hard feelings, right? But to me, you know, we run away from pain, we try to avoid pain. We don't want to, but what I have found is what you're really running away from is your healing. You have to be able to trust that you can feel heartbreak and heartache and you can feel grief and it's okay, right? And that's where the healing is. And so I, you know, I'm it helps to be able to talk and share this. I feel because we don't feel so isolated inside of you know, the hard things that we're going through.

[48:10] Al Malafronte: Well, you know, especially around the holidays, you know, it's on your mind now more than ever, of course. You know, I I I went through the loss of my dad when I was in high school. And, you know, um, I'm so sorry. Sorry, Al. That's all right. I, you know, but this yours is a message that people need to hear, uh, especially those that have been through uh these types of heartbreaks. And I'm gonna I I I I wanna move on to fastball derby before I start.

[48:40] Nikki DeLoach: Yeah, let's play a game.

[48:42] Al Malafronte: All right, yeah, let's do it. I want you okay. Uh moving on. Yeah, we're gonna for this fastball derby will be like an extra innings installment of sorts. Um, I want you to uh uh all right, Nikki. So I usually say like picture yourself in the bottom of the ninth. Picture yourself in uh the bottom of the tenth, the game is on the line. Uholdus Chapman is on the mound throwing 100 miles an hour. I'm a Ralph Chapman in this case, without the uh neck tattoos, um and the without the ability to throw 1005 miles an hour. But I'm gonna ask you a question. You gotta think quick, like a fastball coming in. I'll ask the question. You tell me the first thing that comes to mind. And since you're such a wonderful storyteller, you feel free to throw some of those in there too.

[49:27] Nikki DeLoach: You got it.

[49:29] Nikki DeLoach: Batter up! The thing you miss most about Georgia?

[49:38] Al Malafronte: Oh, my family.

[49:40] Nikki DeLoach: There's so much. There's so much. Like, I literally had like my head almost exploded because there was so much. I was like, the smell of the air, the rain, the farm, like I could—there's so much, but my family, number one.

[49:54] Al Malafronte: Favorite New York City meal?

[49:57] Nikki DeLoach: Oh.

[50:03] Al Malafronte: A good slice of pizza. How's the pizza where you grew up, by the way?

[50:07] Nikki DeLoach: I've actually never been to Georgia outside of the uh Atlanta. That's probably what you think it is.

[50:13] Al Malafronte: Chuck E.

[50:14] Nikki DeLoach: Cheese?

[50:14] Al Malafronte: No, I'm kidding.

[50:14] Nikki DeLoach: I'm kidding. That's me. I'm trying to right.

[50:20] Al Malafronte: Yeah.

[50:22] Nikki DeLoach: But there's nothing like a good slice of pizza after you've been out, you know, all night, or you've had, you know, it's four o'clock in the morning, and you're like, oh, I'm gonna get a greasy slice of pepperoni pizza and go home and crash. I mean, I just like have so many memories of slices of pizza at 3 a.m. in New York.

[50:43] Al Malafronte: I love that. That is so such a great answer. Um, the non-Hallmark Christmas movie you watch every year, no matter what.

[50:54] Nikki DeLoach: Elf.

[50:57] Al Malafronte: Your favorite Muppet.

[51:00] Nikki DeLoach: Cookie Monster.

[51:02] Al Malafronte: That counts.

[51:02] Nikki DeLoach: All right. Sesame Street Muppets. I guess okay. Muppet. Muppets are which ones are the Muppets? And I'll get it Kermit and Gonzo and Animal.

[51:07] Al Malafronte: Oh, Kermit, of course.

[51:11] Nikki DeLoach: Kermit. Like he's the sweetest. He re-sings Rainbow Connection. Kermit.

[51:15] Al Malafronte: I know you kind of alluded to what the answer might be for this, but I'm gonna ask anyway. Team Jeter or Team Arod.

[51:22] Nikki DeLoach: Oh, come on, Jeter.

[51:24] Al Malafronte: You ever meet Jeter?

[51:26] Nikki DeLoach: No. You know, Ashley Williams played on a uh in a celebrity softball game with him once.

[51:32] Al Malafronte: Oh, she did. How fun! I wasn't sure if maybe you've had any interactions with either of them on that level, but uh no, no, no.

[51:41] Nikki DeLoach: I used to play in celebrity basketball games all the time, but like not you know, I've not a softball kind of situation.

[51:49] Al Malafronte: Interesting. Okay. Um you could be the lead in one Broadway musical. What would it be?

[51:54] Nikki DeLoach: Funny girl on Broadway.

[51:59] Al Malafronte: Fanny Bryce, I could see it. I mean, just like the the role of a lifetime. I mean, but honestly, holy moly, taking on that role, but like, I mean, if you're gonna dream, dream big.

[52:13] Nikki DeLoach: I like that. Um, all right, Billy Joel or Bruce Springsteen.

[52:19] Al Malafronte: Oh dear.

[52:20] Nikki DeLoach: Billy Joel.

[52:21] Al Malafronte: Great answer. Uh that wouldn't mean oh I I mean, I personally think it's a non-contest, at least for people that I don't know. I don't I I have a lot of debates with my friends who are like Team Bruce, I'm Team Billy. I grew up on Long Island, I don't have that much of a choice, you know what I mean?

[52:36] Nikki DeLoach: So I know what you mean.

[52:37] Al Malafronte: Yeah, I do. Um, but okay. Fact about Nikki DeLoach that would surprise people the most.

[52:45] Nikki DeLoach: I'm terrible with clothes.

[52:49] Al Malafronte: That does surprise me. You're always so well dressed.

[52:52] Nikki DeLoach: Terrible. If I look good, it's probably because somebody else picked it out. I mean, like, I I would literally, I mean, I'm wearing the outfit that I slept in last night. I it's two o'clock in the afternoon. This is how disgusting I am, Al. It's two o'clock in the afternoon, California time. I slept in this outfit, and then I got up, and then I put shoes on, and then I took my kids to school in this outfit. I ran errands in this outfit, and now I'm doing your podcast in this outfit. I like that's how disgusting I am. Like, but when people don't put clothes on my body, then I'm just wearing essentially something that looks kind of like pajamas every day. It's really sad and gross.

[53:38] Al Malafronte: I know we're in an audio only format, folks, but Nikki looks great. She's just very humble. Um, which will uh we'll move on to the uh final two fastballs here in the Derby. Um what's your favorite moment in your career, Nikki?

[53:54] Nikki DeLoach: So far, because wow, that's hard because you know, I've had a couple of moments, like Mickey Mouse Club was a moment that was life-changing. Doing the show Awkward was a moment that was life-changing. And at the same time, I would say now really might be my favorite moment in my career because you know, I now am getting to really be a writer and a producer. My partner and I have sold a show, we've sold, you know, a couple of movies thus far. We've written some scripts. We have another show that we're taking out. And the fact that I'm in a place finally where I am getting to do these other ways of telling stories, right? Um, and I finally have that opportunity to do that is just it blows my mind.

I'm so grateful. I'm so grateful that for every single human being who trusted me to um, you know, not just come on a set and act, but to actually create the content, you know, for that production. It's it's really cool. So, you know, I've had some really fun moments in my career, but I would have to say that what I'm getting to do right now is really my favorite.

[55:16] Al Malafronte: Lastly, what's the best piece of advice anyone ever gave you?

[55:23] Nikki DeLoach: You're I mean, I one of the things that's coming to mind right now is you know, my my self-worth is not dependent on anything that's outside of me. Nobody gets to determine your self-worth. Every single human being on this planet is completely equal in their value and their humanity. And I don't care what you do, I don't care. Like it's meaning, like, I don't care if you're making a billion dollars a year or you're making, you know, $10,000 a year. It doesn't matter, like every single person matters equally. And I think that we live in a society where we so often believe that our self-worth is, you know, um it it's attached to things or clothes or cars or you know, projects, or how successful we become, or what somebody says whether even if it's our mother or our father right our self-worth is not determined by anything that is outside of us and I think if we can teach that to kids at a very young age then we probably would have a different world.

[55:57] Al Malafronte: Nikki uh just such an amazing hour with you I uh I cannot thank you enough for coming on today this was just I mean I can't think of a better kickoff to the holiday season here on Break A Bat seriously I hope you enjoyed it I had so much fun I mean I literally got to talk about like two of my favorite things which is you know storytelling and entertainment and sports like I really and truly am like this is such a smart smart idea like I love it thank you for coming up with it.

[55:57] Nikki DeLoach: Oh my it's don't give me too much credit but um I I'm just glad that you know that it's in the place it's in that I could have folks like you on the show and uh one thing I want to make sure I touch on before we close out the ballgame is I know that you're working on a pretty unique project uh based on the fugitive safe surrender program can you tell the folks at home a little bit more about that?

[55:57] Nikki DeLoach: Yes so fugitive safe surrender is um it's a program that existed uh that we need to bring back really and that's really the goal behind this project for me and my producing partner is to bring back this program so um, you know at one point in time um, oh my gosh, hold on, I'll pick back that back up. At one point in time, Camden, New Jersey was the most dangerous um town in in the country and New Jersey itself, actually, um, at this time in the 90s. And um the people there really wanted to get uh get a hold of that and figure out what they can do to actually put Camden back, you know, on its feet and the state of New Jersey back on its feet as well and really turn things around there. And Jim Plusis, who has been a U.S. Marshal under Bush, and he's the U.S. Marshal for um the state of New Jersey, um, he came together with a bunch of incredibly smart, passionate, you know, workers, um, people for social justice and for um human rights, and also with the clergy of New Jersey, and they all came together to create a program called Fugitive Safe Surrender, where if people that were on the run, and most of them, by the way, on the run from these petty warrants that they had out for their arrest of like traffic tickets or couldn't pay for alimony or couldn't pay, you know, and they weren't able to re-enter society and regain their life or have a second chance because they had these warrants following them wherever they went.

They couldn't get a driver's license, they couldn't get a job. And what happens when people can't actually, you know, support themselves, you will commit crimes because you have to survive. So they decided to create a program where they get a bunch of judges to um essentially volunteer their time, and they did it at the church, the local church. So the police came together, law enforcement came together, and the clergy came together to do this program on behalf of the state of New Jersey. And over the course of five different fugitive safe surrender programs that happened in the entire state of New Jersey, they were able to give over 18,000 people their lives back. And I just, one, I want to talk about it because I feel like we often make really snap judgments against people who find themselves in these unfortunate situations.

But and what I would say to that person is like, how many times have you gotten a traffic ticket? How many times have you sped? How many times have you gone through a red light and that ticket came in the mail or that police handed you that ticket and you just paid it? What if you can't pay it? What if you literally cannot pay it because of the cycle of poverty that's happened in your life and what you were born into? And so I really want people to start thinking about human beings as human beings. What happened in their lives to get them to where they are. So we are doing a project, we're doing a documentary and a narrative movie based on this entire program and what happened. And um, and we want to use that essentially to be able to create create programs like this throughout the country so people don't have to run for their lives anymore. They can come and they can actually get a real second chance.

[01:00:53] Al Malafronte: Awesome stuff, Nikki. Um once again, thank you so much for coming on today. For the folks at home who may want to connect with you on social media and everything that you do in on-screen and off it. Um, I know you mentioned your Instagram handle before, but can you give it one more time for the audience?

[01:01:06] Nikki DeLoach: Absolutely. Um, it's uh Nick DeLoach, N-I-K-D-E-L-O-A-C-H.

[01:01:14] Al Malafronte: Awesome. Come follow me.

[01:01:16] Nikki DeLoach: Yes, I do, and I can attest it's a it's a great follow. And uh it'll definitely make you feel good this holiday season, as will Five More Minutes, which again is airing on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries on Saturday, November 20th. And um, yeah, be sure to check it out. Nikki, thank you again.

[01:01:33] Nikki DeLoach: Thank you so much, Al.

[01:01:35] Al Malafronte: Thanks everyone for listening. All right, folks. That'll close out the ballgame here on Break A Bat. This is Al Malafronte signing off. We'll see you next time.

[01:01:47] Al Malafronte: Thanks for listening to Break A Bat. This is produced by the fine folks at the Broadway Podcast Network. Visit and subscribe at bpn.fm slash breakabat. You can find me online at break underscore a underscore bat underscore podcast. And you can also find the Broadway Podcast Network on Instagram at Broadway Podcast Network. It's been so great having you here with us today, and we'll see you next time.