Mountain Brook native co-stars in 2 new Lifetime Movies

Actor Kate Edmonds loves being on set and exploring new characters

The Lifetime Movies — a popular series of TV films produced by the Lifetime Network — have become an iconic piece of American pop culture in the last decade.

A Mountain Brook resident, Kate Edmonds, is now co-starring in two of them.

A 2018 graduate of Mountain Brook High School, Edmonds co-stars in “Secrets on Sorority Row,” which had its premiere showing on Lifetime May 15.

She also co-stars in “A Party Gone Wrong,” which premiered Memorial Day.

Not only is Edmonds making it in Hollywood, she is enjoying herself — despite some of the industry drawbacks.

“Being on set is sometimes very long, very hard days, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Edmonds said. “I love meeting new people (and) the cast and crew really become your family.

“I have butterflies in my stomach all day every day from how happy it makes me and how lucky I am to be able to do this for a living,” she said.

When Village Living caught up with Edmonds in May, she was in Los Angeles getting ready for a premiere.

She told us about her nearly lifelong desire to act, her experiences at MBHS and her approach to the craft of acting.

Edmonds described the characters she plays in “Secrets on Sorority Row” and “A Party Gone Wrong.”

She also described the inspiration she’s received from other women in the industry and shared some of her dreams for the future.

A desire to act has been with Edmonds for most of her life.

“I’ve wanted to be an actor for as long as I can remember,” she said. “Every summer growing up instead of going to camp I went to acting camps, and after school instead of sports I did improv and plays and scene study.”

Edmonds took theatre her sophomore and junior years at MBHS.

“I did tons of plays and musicals during my time there and I loved performing with the school,” she said.

She also did training outside MBHS, including Virginia Samford Theatre.

There is a strong artistic desire behind Edmond’s love for acting.

“I love to tell stories, stories of people who are completely different than I am,” she said. “I love having the ability to move people and make them feel something.”

She is also drawn to the power of the medium.

“Movies and television shows have the ability to teach people so much and start conversations about things that need to be talked about,” she said.

There is a more basic reason for her love of acting.

“I just love to entertain,” she said. “I’ve always been a ham, since performing on the stairs for my extended family at Thanksgiving.”

“A Party Gone Wrong,” based on a true story, “is incredibly dark and gritty and raw in every aspect,” Edmonds said. “There are so many twists and turns, and it’s unlike any other Lifetime movie out there.”

Her character, Brittney, is coerced by her brother into helping kidnap her friends to sell them to organ traffickers.

Brittney was “one of the most challenging roles” Edmonds has ever played, but that “made it super fun,” she said.

“It pushed me harder than ever and I learned so much,” she said. “It’s difficult to play such a dark character because you have to find the humanity in the role, even when it seems impossible.”

“Secrets of Sorority Row” is a mystery involving a hazing incident that left a sorority sister dead, and 22 years later the daughter of one of the members — Quinn, played by Edmonds — is rushing the sorority when mysterious events begin.

“It’s about sorority sisters and murder with a big twist,” she said.

“This is totally the opposite of ‘A Party Gone Wrong,’ and such a classic Lifetime Movie,” Edmonds said.

Quinn was “a very fun character to play,” Edmonds said.

She is “hard-headed, bold, and confident” and is “a little edgy with dreams of being a card dealer at a casino in Vegas,” Edmonds said.

Some actors tend to favor rigorous, intense preparation, while some actors are more instinctive.

Edmonds mixes “a little bit of both,” she said.

“I read the script man, many times and make notes of specific things about my character,” she said.

However, “half the battle is getting on set and what happens in the moment,” Edmonds said, noting that actors typically don’t get a lot of rehearsal time in movies.

“When I’m in the scene, I just do my best to react truthfully to the situation at hand,” she said. “Sometimes it’s completely different from what I’d planned in my head.”

She said she had some personal attributes that serve her well in the acting business.

“I’m very patient,” she said. “Being on set is a whole lot of hurry up and wait.”

Patience also applies to waiting on acting gigs. “It could be months between jobs,” she said.

You have to take the bad with the good in the film business, she said,

“Shooting a movie is hard, and I have so much respect for anyone in any cast or crew who has ever completed one, because it is not easy,” Edmonds said.

“But I love every aspect of shooting a movie, no matter how hard it may be,” she said.

Edmonds has completed several other films.

She shot her first feature film, “Root Letter,” set against the opioid crisis, in 2019. Edmonds plays Zoey, who tries to help find her friend who has disappeared. The film should be released in 2022.

“Bear Claw” is a short Edmonds shot with some of her industry friends during the height of the pandemic. Edmonds plays Rose, who tempts Lily — played by Birmingham actor Nicole Lamb — to let loose and drink at a high school party.

“It’s a slice-of-life short on friendship and pushing boundaries,” Edmonds said.

“Bear Claw” is currently in post-production and is set to be released in late 2021.

She has also appeared in two other as-yet unreleased films, “The Third Saturday in October,” directed by Alabama filmmaker Jay Burleson, and “Nikki,” directed and produced by Jay Galloway.

A lot of actors seek to become “hyphenates,” meaning they are actors but also writers or directors or producers, but Edmonds is taking that slow.

“I have written a few short film scripts that I may get made some day, but right now just for fun,” she said.

However, she said she can “definitely” see herself in her 40s producing or directing after years of industry experience.

“I’ve met so many amazing women producers and directors that I’ve already learned from and have been so inspired by,” she said.

And Edmonds will “definitely” live in Los Angeles some day, she said.

However, right now she said she’s taking advantage of all of the many opportunities for actors in the Southeast.

“Right now Atlanta is a hub for the film industry,” she said.

“Every project I’ve been in has been filmed in the Southeast, from Louisiana to Virginia,” she said.

For updates about Kate Edmonds and her film and TV appearances, go to imdb.com.