*Nischelle Turner is embracing a bold new chapter, stepping into acting for the first time with a lead role in Lifetime’s holiday movie “A Runaway Bride for Christmas,” which premiered December 12.
The Entertainment Tonight host described the experience as pushing her far beyond her comfort zone. “I’m completely stepping out of my comfort zone to do something that I’ve never done before,” Turner told PEOPLE. “I’m trying to give myself grace, but I’m also one of those perfectionists where I’m like, ‘What are you doing?'”
The opportunity came after Turner celebrated her 50th birthday this year. Following a gala she hosted, an A&E executive approached her with a question about acting. “He came up to me and he said, ‘Do you do scripted?’ I said, ‘No, I’m not an actor, I’m a journalist.’ And he was like, ‘Well, I think you can.'” After reviewing scripts, Turner decided to take the lead. “They said you can choose whatever role you want and the weirdo overachiever in me said, ‘How about I just be the lead?'”
In the film, Turner portrays a woman who leaves her fiancé on their wedding day and returns to her hometown, where family and a former love interest, played by Mark Ghanimé, help her rebuild her life.
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Turner said turning 50 motivated her to embrace new experiences. “I turned 50 this year, so I’ve really been telling myself happy birthday. I said to myself, ‘You know what? I’m going to do things this year that I’ve never done before, and I’m going to lean into those things and I’m going to do them purposefully and intentionally.'”
She added, “I’m an ingenue at 50! My first movie, to be the lead in it, that was pretty wild. We shot it in 11 days and when we were done, that next morning I woke up and I was like, ‘holy s—. I just shot a movie!'”
Reflecting on life and love, Turner shared, “Listen. I don’t hide anything. I am in these single girl streets and there is pee in the pool! It’s hard out here. It’s very hard. And I’m at an age now, to be perfectly honest, to where I’m looking for a life partner and I don’t know that that needs to end in marriage.”
She emphasized the excitement of taking risks at 50, noting, “It’s so interesting that now being 50, doors are opening up in ways that before for women, we felt like we were being put out to pasture. But I became the host of Entertainment Tonight at 46! It’s different now.”
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