Lifetime
Kristen Alderson (ex-Starr, ONE LIFE TO LIVE/GH; ex-Kiki, GH) is making her TV movie debut in Lifetime’s THE MAN IN THE GUEST HOUSE, which will premiere on Sunday, February 18 at 8 p.m. ET and will be available the next day for streaming — and the gig actually came about because of her daytime history. “Paul Ruddy, who is an incredible casting director in L.A., is a big soap fan,” Alderson explains. “He is really great friends with Nick Robuck, who played James on ONE LIFE TO LIVE, and Brittany Underwood [ex-Langston, OLTL], but I had never met him. So when I came out to visit California last March, he and I went to lunch because we were like, ‘This is long overdue!’ We have so many mutual friends and everyone was like, ‘You guys are gonna click like family.’ And we did! He is just the nicest man ever and an amazing casting director and he was like, ‘We need to get you back on TV!’ ”
When Alderson returned to the East Coast, Ruddy brought THE MAN IN THE GUEST HOUSE to her attention. “It was the first audition he sent me, and I couldn’t believe it when I booked it! I was so grateful that I got to play this role, and Ignacyo [Matynia], who plays my husband, is an incredible actor and we just had a blast. The cast and crew were all so amazing and welcoming. They had all done a million movies and I had never done a Lifetime movie before, so I was just so excited. They usually film in California and I’ve been doing theater, so I haven’t been available, really, to be flying out and filming. But this just really lined up perfectly and was so much fun.”
Getting to work on her first Lifetime project wasn’t the only thing Alderson had to celebrate at the time. “We filmed this back in May ]2023] and I actually found out that I was pregnant five days into filming the movie,” shares the actress, who gave birth to daughter Kiera, her first child with fiancé Taylor Crousore, on January 29. “I was so excited, but I still had, like, 13 days of filming afterward. So, I had just found out I was pregnant and then I had to do stunt scenes where I was kicking, I had to film a love scene, I had to do scenes where I was hyperventilating and crying. I was like, ‘I hope the baby’s okay!’ Meanwhile, the baby was the size of a poppy seed, probably [laughs].” She did share the news with co-star Matnyia. “He and I clicked right away. We actually have the same birthday, which is nuts. From day one, we were like best buddies, so when I found out I was pregnant, he was the only one that I told on set. He was so excited for me. He was like, ‘I’m honored to work with the two of you!’ It was very cute.”
In the thriller, Alderson plays the role of Ashley, wife of Matynia’s Brandon. “They are high school sweethearts who have been married for 10 years and they live in this gorgeous house,” Alderson reports. “They have a guest house in their backyard and they decide to renovate it and have someone move in to get some extra income — and the person who moves in is not so perfect. Dun dun dunnnnn!”
Her soap experience came in handy during the hectic filming process. “[Lifetime movies] really are like the soap opera of TV movies because you film them so fast,” she says. “There’s so much work that goes into it, and you film the same scene so many times and you’re hyperventilating and crying all day long if you’re filming a thriller. I was like, ‘Wow, this really is like a boot camp, just like soap operas!’ It was crazy, and we filmed the whole thing in less than three weeks, which for movies is really fast. And being the star of the movie, I was in every scene. It was intense! And because movies like this are filmed so out of sequence, another difficult part was trying to remember, ‘Okay, what exactly happened right before this moment?’ There’s a lot of homework involved. I wrote so many notes down of everything that happened in order so that I knew where to be emotionally, so I’m very curious to see how my arc turns out. I’m like, ‘Was I too upset here and too chill there?’ I hope it all comes together!”
She’ll find out on Sunday night when she hosts a small gathering to watch the film with close family and friends. “I only just found out that the movie was coming out while I was in the hospital [giving birth],” she shares. “That was so exciting, because I’ve been on the edge of my seat, wanting to know when it was coming out. So, I literally gave birth to Kiera and then the next day, it was like, ‘And your movie is coming out next month.’ I was like, ‘Wow!’ But because Kiera is so young, they tell you not to have that many visitors over, so it’ll be just a couple of people, two of my cousins and my brother [Eddie Alderson, ex-Matthew, OLTL] and Taylor, of course. I’m going to be cringe-watching my love scenes with Taylor there [laughs]! And I’ll be like, ‘Look, Kiera, there’s Mommy making out with this other guy while you’re in my belly!’ ”
