'First Christmas': Meet Idara Victor, Tonea Stewart and rest of the cast of OWN's festive family flick
Ho ho ho and a bottle of rum. It's Christmas time, and if you haven't exhausted all options of 'The Holidate', 'A Glenbrooke Christmas', and everything else that Netflix and Hallmark churned out on your festive platter, here's our next suggestion: 'First Christmas', an OWN production. It revolves around a writer named Halle who has to come and spend Christmas with the biological family she never knew she had.
Everyone's excited to see her but Halle struggles to find her place in this new chaotic family. But that's what 'First Christmas' is all about — she realizes that she is home. Christmas films are all about warm fuzzies and being with family, so no surprise 'First Christmas' follows the same pattern. We can never get tired of Christmas films even though you can't tell one apart from the other sometimes.
Here's how the synopsis goes: "Given up for adoption and placed in foster care at a young age, writer Halle Downing (Idara Victor, 'Alita: Battle Angel') receives the blessing of a lifetime when she is invited to spend Christmas in New Orleans with the biological family she never knew she had – The Moores. Halle’s grandmother “Memaw" (Tonea Stewart, 'A Time to Kill') welcomes the young woman with open arms, completely overwhelming Halle with emotion at the significance of finally finding her family.
Extremely excited to meet her twin siblings Tiffany (Samantha Smith, 'Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins') and Glenn (Mason Beauchamp, 'NCIS: New Orleans') along with younger brother Drew (Peyton Jackson, “Nobody’s Fool”) for the first time, Halle soon faces the hard reality that finding her place in this close-knit family is going to take longer than she thought, something that becomes particularly evident when she witnesses Tiffany’s apprehension about introducing her new girlfriend Paris (Amanda Tavarez, 'Queen Sugar') to the family for the first time.
However, as Christmas approaches, Halle begins to gain perspective on the Moore family dynamic and ultimately comes to embrace and celebrate her first family holiday with a special gift that tells her she is right where she is supposed to be." Meet the cast of this entertaining OWN film.
Idara Victor
Idara Victor is a Nigerian-American stage, television and film actress best known for her lead roles in 'Rizzoli & Isles' and 'Turn: Washington's Spies', and 'Alita: Battle Angel'.
Tonea Stewart
Stewart had a recurring role as Aunt Etta Kibby in the American television series 'In the Heat of the Night', and has acted in films such as 'Girls Trip', 'The Hollars', and 'A Time To Kill'. The rest of the cast includes Samantha Smith, Peyton Jackson and Amanda Tavarez.
'First Christmas' will release on December 22 at 9 pm on OWN.