Fans know her as the horse-loving Ashley Stanton on HEARTLAND and the sharp, soft-spoken lawyer Nora Anderson on WHEN HOPE CALLS. But actress Cindy Busby has spent more than a decade building a career that runs deeper than her resume suggests.
“My faith has really grown in, I’m going to say, the last 12 years,” Busby told Movieguide®, describing how her career and her spiritual life have grown up together rather than on separate tracks.
Here are seven facts about the Canadian actress worth knowing.
1. She trained on a stage long before she ever stood in front of a camera.
Busby grew up in Montreal, Quebec, and got her start not on a TV set but in a classroom.
“I graduated from the 3-year professional theatre program at Dawson College in Montreal, which primarily focused on the performance along with lots of behind-the-scenes crew work,” she said.
2. Her breakout role felt right from the very first audition.
Long before HEARTLAND became a Canadian television staple, Busby walked into the audition room for Ashley Stanton not entirely sure what to expect.
“Ashley is a character I had a really great feeling about when I initially auditioned for the show. Ashley has so many layers, flaws, and a strong character arc,” she said.
3. She has no backup plan, and she means that.
Related: Cindy Busby & Christopher Russell Talk When Hope Calls Season 2!
Acting is a notoriously unstable business, but Busby has never hedged her bets with a plan B.
“I don’t have a backup plan. This is what I’m doing,” she said, a line that sums up a career built on commitment rather than convenience.
4. She thinks of her work as “heart work.”
Busby doesn’t oversell what she does for a living, but she doesn’t undersell it either.
“It’s not brain surgery…but it is heart work. Stories unite people. And I get to be a part of that,” she said, explaining why storytelling matters to her beyond the paycheck.
5. She’s more of a homebody hobbyist than her on-screen roles let on.
Between takes on Hallmark sets, Busby isn’t chasing anything glamorous.
“I’m obsessed with dollhouses and miniatures. I’ve been fascinated by them for as long as I can remember,” she told Parade.
6. Playing a 1920s lawyer was a dream fit.
On WHEN HOPE CALLS, Busby stepped into the role of Nora Anderson, a big shift from her HEARTLAND days on horseback.
“I’m very excited to be playing Nora Anderson, who is a lawyer in the 1920s, no less, from San Francisco and most of her family has passed away and she finds out that she had some family living in Brookfield,” Busby said.
7. WHEN HOPE CALLS has earned real recognition, and Busby was there to see it.
The show has picked up attention beyond its loyal fan base, including from Movieguide® itself. Busby attended the Movieguide® Awards Gala, where the series was honored on two fronts.
“Grateful to attend and present at the 2026 Movie Guide Awards last Friday. WHEN HOPE CALLS received a nomination for both Best Family Television/Streaming and The Faith & Freedom Award for Television!” Busby wrote, a nod to a show that has made faith and family its whole reason for being.
From a Montreal theater classroom to a 1920s courtroom drama, Busby has built a career on staying close to stories worth telling. And for an actress who says she’s got no backup plan, that seems to be working out just fine.
Read Next: How Working on Faith-Based Content Changed Cindy Busby’s Life
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