Barbara Niven’s Road to Bliss Paved in Truth

Diane Dennis

50plus Magazine

71-year-old actor and Portland native Barbara Niven is best known for her many films on the Hallmark Channel. The seeds of her career were planted on a day she remembers like it was yesterday.

“I was five, in kindergarten, and had my first role in a play. I remember the scenes, the audience, and especially the goose bumps I got from acting.”

Fast-forward to her 10-year high school reunion. Someone asked, “Have you achieved all you want to in life?”

 She’d secretly dreamed, since those first goose  bumps, to become an actor. So far, she was a wife and mother, running a business with her husband. “I was always thinking I would act ‘someday.’ But 10 years passed in a flash without me ever starting. That reunion was a wake-up call, and I realized it as now or never.”

At 30 with a two-year-old daughter, she took the first step: leaving the comfort and familiarity of Portland for Los Angeles and starting acting classes.

Her dream of acting soon came to life.

Now, years later, Barbara’s journey is an inspiration. Rather than merely basking in her success, she champions others to pursue their own happiness, truth, and passion.

“Remember those goose bumps on your way to passion and purpose,” she says. “You are here for a reason. Don’t give up five minutes before the miracle.” 

Once considering acting to be just a personal pursuit, Barbara eventually realized she could use her platform to inspire others to live their truth. “We are here to help each other, inspire others, and make a difference in the world by expressing our authentic selves,” she says. “Acting is more than playing a role. In each acting experience, I must go deep to find the authenticity of the character, and in the process, I always learn more about myself.”

It’s an interesting twist that immersing herself in a role has been key to developing her own authenticity. Barbara believes this can be achieved by anyone who dares plunge into any passion that moves them deeply.

Barbara works to teach others that dreams that give you goose bumps don’t have to be a job. Do it, she says, whatever it is that connects you with your deepest desires, daily. She wants her listeners, fans, and friends to remember the question “What would you regret if it were your last day?”

This exploration of mortality is a deep vein of past and recent pain for her. One beloved acting partner and friend was Treat Williams, her fellow lead in the Hallmark Channel’s Chesapeake Shores. Family and friends were heartbroken when Treat died recently at 71, hours after a motorcycle accident.

“You never know when your time is up,” Barbara says. “It’s an important practice to ask how people will remember us. An avid pilot, Treat would message me from the air. I would ask, ‘Did you touch God today?’ He’d respond with a picture of himself in the cockpit, looking over the skyline. He was a beloved acting partner and friend.”

As ageism can be an obstacle in Hollywood, Barbara used to fudge her age on acting resumes. “For women, age is a double-edged sword. We are judged and stereotyped.” At 50 however, she realized the gap between her stated age and her daughter’s actual age was shrinking — as if she were standing still and her daughter was growing older. The epiphany led her to begin using her true age.

In another beautiful twist, Barbara’s greatest career success followed. She attributes this to truth-telling and “embracing my age.” In true form, she reminds women to own their truth and their passion.

While fans and acquaintances admire Barbara’s blonde, blue-eyed beauty, she says she was never comfortable with her image. That is until she began to associate aging with grace, wisdom, and generosity of spirit. Today she believes “strong is the new beautiful.” 

“Loving life is a great elixir for strength,” she says, reminding people that the universe rewards action. In her many speaking appearances, she says in her no-nonsense way: “Get off your butt. Get out of your safe place. Find a way to make a difference, and don’t forget to smile!”

“Your memories, legacy, and the passion with which you live your life is what others will remember.”

Still actively accepting new roles, Barbara is currently filming in Vancouver BC, playing Alison Sweeney’s mother in Sprinkle of Deceit: A Hannah Swensen Mystery, airing this fall.