Jennifer Love Hewitt’s successful television career can be traced all the way back to her time on Party of Five (1995–99), or, even before that, to her stint as a pre-teen on Kids Incorporated (1989–91). But as of this spring, she’s in her longest-running TV role yet, having shot nearly 120 episodes of ABC’s procedural drama 9-1-1, in which she plays emergency dispatcher Maddie.
It’s a milestone that isn’t lost on her. "It's wild to be 36 years into a career and finally have your longest-running TV show. It's really cool," she says. "I always wanted to be a working actor, and I’ve been able to do just that for a very long time. To have a dream to do something and then be able to do it is really just so awesome. I’m very, very grateful for that."
Having worked in both film and TV (moviegoers will see her return to the big screen this July in the upcoming "legacy sequel" I Know What You Did Last Summer), Hewitt says she appreciates the medium of television and what it allows her to do as an actor: "What I love most about TV is that you get more time to create a character. You get time to have that person really unravel in a slower way. In some of the [shows] where I've been able to be there for a long time, it's been really wonderful to feel like I'm creating full humans for people to watch, who change and are a little bit different. In procedural things, maybe [my character] finds herself in the same situation a lot but handles it a little bit differently each time. So, I love TV for that reason. I think that's really special."
Photo credit: ABC
"And as a TV watcher, I know how special it is, what you decide to let into your home as your escape at the end of a long day," she says. "I always feel very privileged and honored that I am an actor who people have allowed to do that over and over again. It's a special relationship, I think."
As those who watch 9-1-1 can attest, Hewitt’s character is dealt a lot of intense storylines, from an abusive relationship and postpartum depression to having been kidnapped more than once. "It’s wild, to say the least," she says about taking a look at each new episode’s script. "9-1-1 in particular has felt almost like an acting camp that I never got the privilege to be in before. It's really scary and really fun and really challenging, and I feel honored that Tim [Minear, creator] trusts me with the stuff he does."
And as for watching Maddie’s storylines play out on-screen, Hewitt does have something akin to a ritual: "Well, I always watch them with a glass of wine, let me put it that way. I have anxiety, and I'm an empath. I'm always watching the show like, 'Oh my God, I can't take this. How do they do this every week?' So, I am definitely a wine viewer."
Below, we asked Jennifer Love Hewitt to share some of the TV projects over the years that have helped define her.
My favorite show as a kid: The Golden Girls
Photo credit: NBC
My favorite show as a kid is probably an odd one, but it was The Golden Girls. Later I got the opportunity to be really close with Betty White [Hewitt appeared on Hot in Cleveland], which was life-changing for me and a full-circle moment. But yeah, I used to watch The Golden Girls with my grandmother, and I was just in awe of the show being really, truly just women. It was just women being funny and witty and smart and beautiful and talented and all of those things.
I always think, oh my gosh, no wonder as a 10-year-old girl I thought I could just walk into Hollywood and go, "Yeah, I'm here. I want to be a part of this." I just loved this show where women were the leads, and they were amazing. And it was great to watch. They were powerful and strong and opinionated. It was also women being kind to each other and uplifting each other, so I guess I always just thought that's what the business was going to be. It made me even braver than I should have been at a young age. But yeah, I just loved that show. It was such great memories with my grandmother.
The shows that were formative for me as a teen: Saved by the Bell, Party of Five
Definitely Saved by the Bell, but if I’m allowed to also say something I [appeared on], I would say Party of Five, because I was 15 when I started that show. My mom always joked that I was the easiest teenager in real life, because I played such a complicated teenager on TV. I would go to work and be in teen angst all day. I would cry, fight with my boyfriend — I would do all the things teenagers do, and then by the time I got home, I was exhausted, so I was like, "I just want to snuggle with you, Mom, and tell you how much I love you." She thought that was the best ever. So, yeah, that show was formative for me as a teen, both on camera and off.
The cast of Party of Five / Photo Credit: Fox
The shows that are must-watch weekly viewing for me: Running Point, Good American Family, Tell Me Lies
I just watched all of Running Point in one day. It's so great, and I love seeing Kate Hudson just be Kate Hudson, so I love that show. I'm also fully addicted to Good American Family. And Tell Me Lies. Those shows, really, I can't miss them.
The shows I can watch over and over again: Friends, The Vampire Diaries
Friends is 100% that show always. But, since I started 9-1-1, I have one show that I watch every day as I'm getting ready and between scenes, and it's The Vampire Diaries. I have literally started and finished The Vampire Diaries probably 25 times in the last eight years. For me, I love anything with vampires. I mean, sexy vampires — why would I not watch that all the time? That's A. And B, I love the strong female characters in it. The writing on that show is amazing. It keeps me in the right mindset, I guess, for Maddie, and what I do on 9-1-1. I couldn't watch Friends and be in hysterical laughter and then go do all my crying scenes, but I feel like Vampire Diaries gets me into this drama mode. It just allows me to stay in the right place but also watch something that isn't my work, and let’s me take my mind off of it. That keeps me in the right frame of mind, I feel like.
The show I’d love to see brought back for one more season: Friends
It was on at a time that I didn't have a core group of friends like that. I wasn't old enough to be living on my own or have friends out of college or life experiences like them, so I was really intrigued by that idea: "I want to have a group of friends like that one day. I want to have a coffee shop and a place where we go to hang out. And we make fun of each other, but we also hold each other up, and all the girls and the guys are friends. Some of them also fall in love."
It was just perfect in every way, besides the actors being geniuses, obviously, at what they do. But also, it’s interesting, because at the time I really watched Friends, there were already cell phones and emails and all that, but that stuff wasn’t on the show. It was really a show where people were just connecting with each other. They were still leaving messages on answering machines.
Photo credit: NBC
It also was this point in time where I was like, "These people seem so much more focused on each other and their relationships.” I just loved that the characters on Friends didn't have some of the things that were starting to become a part of my world. We get into our phones, and we stare into them, and we get back to people later. We can email people, or text. But that time period when Friends took place, it was still very much about connection, and if you wanted to do a romantic gesture, you had to run across town and actually do it.
I think it would be so interesting to have one more season of it, because I’m curious how everything today would change those relationships. What would that look like?
Shows I love that might surprise people: Is It Cake?, Dr. Pimple Popper
Maybe people would be surprised that I watch Is It Cake? basically every day. I love that show. I feel like it gets rid of my sweet cravings, because I want chocolate. And I'm obsessed with Dr. Pimple Popper. I will watch pimple-popping videos in between scenes to not stay in the heaviness. But they also don't distract me, and they're so satisfying.
The show I’m embarrassed to say I’ve never seen: Game of Thrones
Oh my God, this one's really bad, and people might actually come for me: I have never seen Game of Thrones. I honestly don't know what’s kept me from seeing it, except that Game of Thrones was happening right as I was becoming a new mom and having my kids, and I feel like all of my television at that point changed. It went to The Wiggles. I watched a lot of Friends just to keep everything light, postpartum. It was a time in my life where I lost the ability to fully invest in something, or to watch an hour of something and be able to track it and stay with it and talk about it with people. I think it was just a bad timing thing.
But watching the show is something I would really like to do, because I would even go to Game of Thrones parties, and people would be like, "Yeah, can you believe it? Winter is coming." And I'd be like, "Yeah, it is!" I'd have to Google "Why is winter coming?" to try to keep up. And I'd make Game of Thrones cake pops and be like, "Yeah, I'm so in. Queen of Something — Dragons, I think. Woo!" But, yeah, I've never seen it.
