Being Busy is a Big Blessing for Canadian Country Musician and 9-1-1: NASHVILLE Star MacKenzie Porter

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede   TV moves fast. Luckily, so does MacKenzie Porter. The award-winning Alberta-born-and-raised country singer and songwriter was already intensely busy with music and acting gigs when she suddenly found herself in one of the starring roles on 9-1-1: NASHVILLE. With a vast ensemble cast that also includes Chris O’Donnell, Jessica Capshaw, LeAnn Rimes, and Michael Provost, the hit series is in the midst of its first season, with new episodes dropping Thursdays on CTV and Crave. “It was honestly just an audition for a small recurring character, but it was filming in Nashville, so my team was like, ‘hey, you probably have time to do that,’” said Porter, who plays Samantha Hart, an emergency-room doctor. “So, I auditioned for it, and they really liked me. They cast me, and then about two episodes in, they were like, ‘hey, we actually want you to be one of the leads of the show, so are you available?’” Porter, who not only is a successful solo musician but also is part of a musical duo known as Thelma and James with her husband Jake Etheridge, had some rearranging to do. After all, the country music world works on a tight schedule of gigs and tours and albums. “We had to move a few things around, but the past year has been such a big blessing,” Porter said. “There has been the odd time where I’ve had to fly through the night to get back to the set, but we film 30 minutes away from my house. I get to play a very cool character, and the cast is amazing. There are some crazy days, but you know, if I have to cancel something, it’s just one fun thing for another fun thing.” Certainly being “in demand” is a great problem to have in show business. “I always say to Jake, ‘how lucky are we that we’re stressed by the things we prayed for?’” Porter said. “You know what I mean? Like, we’re stressed by balancing parenthood, which we’re so lucky to have had a smooth process with, along with big career things. What else could you ask for? Yeah, it’s stressful sometimes. But it’s all just good stress.” Porter’s character on 9-1-1: NASHVILLE obviously is under stress as well, but it’s far less of the “good” variety, and much more of the “life and death” variety. Porter also played a medic for three seasons on the series TRAVELERS. “I have zero medical training in real life, but every time I walk on set, they’re like, ‘you just give doctor vibes,’” Porter said. “And I’m like, ‘oh, I don’t think you know me, because I don’t give any doctor vibes, but I’m glad that I’m convincing you and doing my job.’ I can’t even handle blood or anything like that. But of course, I’m dressed in scrubs, and I’m in the hospital scene. So, I don’t know, hopefully I’m just a good actress. I do feel comfortable in that setting, but I don’t know where it comes from. If you need real medical attention, you should try somebody else first. I should be your last resort.” Having built formidable careers in both music and acting, does Porter – who also co-hosted the 2024 CCMAs alongside Thomas Rhett – have to draw from different parts of her creative psyche? “I think they pull from a little bit different parts of me, for sure,” she said. “All the music that I write is so personal and based on me, or an experience I’ve had, whereas with acting, I’m portraying somebody else’s experience. So, after songwriting and being in touch with my feelings all the time, I’m like, ‘uh, I don’t want to feel my feelings anymore, I want to be somebody else, and get to know their story instead of mine.’ So, it’s kind of refreshing to do that. Plus, when you’re writing a song, you really have no idea if it’ll ever be heard, or if anybody will like it. So, it’s a little bit more of the abyss, whereas acting is like, you show up, you do your job, and then it does go on TV, right? There is a different experience both times.” There was no chance that 9-1-1: NASHVILLE was ever going to fly under the radar, as it’s the latest series in a high-profile franchise that has included both 9-1-1 and 9-1-1: LONE STAR. “Even though I knew it was a big franchise, and (co-creator and executive producer) Ryan Murphy is a massive name, you just never really know what’s going to click,” Porter said. “But the numbers (ratings) have been insane. We have a group chat with all the series regulars, and it’s just really cool to be a part of something that has so much momentum right now.” MacKenzie Porter has plenty of personal momentum right now as well. So, thinking back to when she was a kid in high school, would her friends and classmates have pegged her as more of a future musician, or more of a future actor? “Hmmm, well, I don’t know … I think they would say musician, because I was always the girl who played the violin and sang,” Porter said. “But then again, I also missed a lot of high school to be on film sets. So, I really don’t know what they would say. Hopefully they would just say that I was a nice person.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv