Emily Kinney’s new single part of Hallmark original “Love on the Sidelines”

It’s surprising to hear an actress be thankful for getting a chance to wear makeup and get her hair done, but for Emily Kinney, who spent four seasons running for her life on The Walking Dead (R.I.P. Beth Greene) you understand. The dainty, adorably sweet Kinney stars in the Hallmark Channel original Love on the Sidelines this Saturday (Jan. 16 at 9pmET).

In the film Kinney plays an out of work fashion designer, Laurel Welk, who lands a job as the personal assistant to superstar quarterback Danny Holland (John Reardon), who has been sidelined with an injury. Laurel knows nothing about football and Danny, a bit chauvinistic, has never had a female assistant. NFL great Joe Theismann plays Danny’s father Owen Holland.

We caught up with Kinney at a recent Television Critics Association press event in Pasadena, where she talked about the film and her music career.

A romantic comedy about falling in love is a far cry from Kinney’s past work. She laughed sizing up her resume as being “a little darker and fatter,” mainly referring to her roles on Cinemax’s The Knick and her past projects like The Walking Dead, Masters of Sex and The Following.

“There’s so many funny, silly and loving things about it,” Kinney says. “For me to be able to work on that was really refreshing, nice and fun.”

Working with football great Joe Theismann was also rewarding. “He was awesome,” tells Kinney. “Every time he was on set, it was like there was extra positivity, motivation. I feel like he has this ability to motivate people in a way that’s really incredible. Immediately, I could feel it. That’s pretty special but yeah, it was really fun working on the show. For me, I haven’t really ever worked on anything like this.”

Playing Laurel wasn’t much of a stretch in some respects, as similarly to her character, Kinney doesn’t know a whole lot about football.

“Growing up, we all loved the Huskers, like college, because the Huskers were a big deal,” tells the Nebraska native, who admits she was way more into theater than sports. “I’m a theater geek.”

Fans of The Walking Dead will also remember Kinney for her sweet vocals, and those endearing serenades she had with Darryl (Norman Reedus). Kinney released her first full debut album — This Is War — in October and is dedicating much of her time to promoting her music. She will continue touring in March, with plans to attend South By Southwest later this year. In the Hallmark original, Love on the Sidelines, Kinney’s single “Weapons” is played in the background.