Candace Cameron Bure Shares How She Became the 'Queen of Christmas Movies'

Mariah Carey may be known as the "Queen of Christmas," but Candace Cameron Bure runs a close second. Christmas is the most wonderful TV time of the year, and nobody knows this better than Bure. After all, she’s starred in 15 holiday-themed chestnuts since Moonlight & Mistletoe back in 2008.

“The movies feel like the comforts of home,” she says. “People [are] going to fall in love. There’s a happy ending. You’re going to have all the feels in your heart. All the reasons why these movies get made fun of are the very reasons they’re so beloved.”

This year, she’s delivering two entries for the Great American Family channel. In A Christmas Less Traveled (premiering Nov. 16), she plays a woman who goes on a road trip in her deceased father’s 1964 Ford truck to fulfill his last wish. She ends up sharing the journey with a man named Greyson (Eric Johnson), and romance ensues. Home Sweet Christmas (premiering Dec. 1) features a familiar storyline—she plays Sophie, a successful attorney called back to her small Washington hometown following her uncle’s death. During her visit, she runs into her childhood friend (Cameron Mathison), and the two go mistletoe-to-toe over his property.

It's not exactly a spoiler to reveal that in both stories, her character realizes the true meaning of love and life. “These are your classic Christmas TV films, so you know exactly what to expect,” she says.

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There’s a reason why Bure, 48, is such a welcome presence in the genre. Want to really talk about the comforts of home? This California girl has been a staple in viewers’ living rooms since the 1980s. A child actress who started in the business at age 5, Bure was a preteen when she landed the role of D.J. Tanner on Full House in 1987. The ABC sitcom never won an Emmy, but the premise of three guys trying to raise three precocious girls was a fun-for-the-whole-family ratings winner. After the final episode aired in 1995, it lived on in reruns and proved to be such an enduring millennial touchstone that the cast—minus Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen—reunited for Netflix’s Fuller House from 2016-20.

Looking back on her time on the show, she recalls, “It truly was a wonderful environment because I loved everyone that I worked with. I had the most incredible experience growing up on television.”

Her offscreen life has been fairy-dusted as well. In the mid-‘90s, her Full House co-star Dave Coulier set her up with Russian NHL star Valeri Bure. The two wed in 1996 and are parents to Natasha, 26, Lev, 24, and Maksim, 22.

And though she’s an empty nester, Bure keeps busy as the chief content officer of Great American Media, producer of Candy Rock Entertainment, filming movies, and doing speaking engagements and fan conventions. She talks to Parade from her brightly lit office studio where she records her faith-based The Candace Cameron Bure Podcast. “I’m barely in one city for more than five days!” she says. “I juggle a ton.”

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She took a break to get in the early Yuletide spirit for this week’s Parade cover story.

Mara Reinstein: How did you get your start as a Christmas movie star? They weren’t such a phenomenon in the mid-2000s.

Candace Cameron Bure: I’m proud to be one of the OGs! It was a niche at the Hallmark Channel at the time. I had to audition for my first one [Moonlight & Mistletoe], so I sent in a videotape and Hallmark was like, “Let's try it.” It was actually my first movie after taking a 10-year break, because I decided to stay home and raise my kids. But if you would have asked me about this many years ago, I would not have thought I would become synonymous with Christmas movies—or that the genre would be as big as it is today.

Why did the genre make sense for you at that point in your career?

I wanted to stay home and raise my kids for as long as I could. But I always knew that I still wanted to be an actress. So when the timing felt right, I called my manager and said, “Hey, can we just see what happens if any doors open up?” When this Christmas movie came in, I thought, This is perfect. I wanted to be in the family entertainment space. I wanted to do things that have good values so my kids could be proud of me.

But I didn't know if the entertainment community even wanted me back. People see you as a kid, and then you come back 10 years later, and you're a full-grown woman and a mom, and sometimes they're very embracing of you, and sometimes they're like, “You had your time.” I was so happy that Hollywood truly opened the doors. People would tell me, “Oh yeah, you were our big sister growing up. We want you to still be a part of the family.”

How did you end up on camera at such a young age?

My mom [Barbara] and dad [Robert] were not entertainment people and had no understanding of it in the very beginning. But we lived in L.A., so acting was like an extracurricular activity. You could go play soccer, you could sign up for tap or ballet, you could try auditioning for commercials. That's kind of how the business was. So we really fell into it. And my mom became my manager.

What were your first gigs?

My first was a commercial for an insurance company that never ran. Then I did commercials for Cabbage Patch dolls, McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Care Bears and all sorts of toys.

What do you remember about your Full House audition?

I remember at least two of them. There might have been a third. But I remember auditioning for the casting director. She told me right in the room, “We’re going to bring you back.” That was so exciting. And then I remember going in for that next audition, which had all the producers, the creator of the show, and some of the writers. So it felt very big as a 10-year-old to meet all of these strange faces. I did my best, and that was it. The creator, Jeff Franklin, has since said to me, “Oh, we knew the second that you walked out of the room.”

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At the time, your older brother Kirk was a huge teen star on Growing Pains. How did that affect you as a kid?

Kirk had been on Growing Pains for two years before I booked Full House, and my sisters and I would go to the set and all the tapings on Tuesday or Friday nights. I loved being in that world and on the sound stage and watching the performances.

Did you go through your own growing pains on Full House or was it a happy experience?

Oh, I absolutely loved it, especially in light of stories that have come out more recently. There are a handful of child stars or young entertainers that didn't get through the business successfully with their emotional health and have really awful predator experiences. So when I look back on it, I’m grateful. Then I had the gift of Fuller House and worked with my best friends again.

How often do you think about Bob Saget? It’s still hard to believe he’s gone.

I think about Bob a lot—probably even more often than I thought I would. That’s because almost anything funny makes me think of him and laughter is such a huge part of my life, and Bob was a huge source of laughter in my life. There are so many times when I'm going about my day and I'm like, I wish I could call Bob and tell him that. Or I wish I could go have dinner with him right now and download all of this. Yeah, I miss him. I miss him greatly.

Since you just alluded to it, did you watch the Quiet on Set docuseries about what went on at Nickelodeon?

I did. I watched most of it.

And what was your reaction? Did it almost give you a sense of relief that you didn’t have to share such a traumatic story?

Yeah, of course. I mean, in a selfish way, I'm so happy that it didn't happen to me, and I'm grateful for my parents, and I'm grateful for the people that were around us. But just as equally, my heart absolutely breaks for the people that had those experiences. It’s just horrible, and it makes me so sad for them.

Did you have a conversation with your daughter before she got into the business?

Natasha has always been a performer, so it's so cute. She started making little TV shows on her iPhone when she was like 8. There were definitely conversations about it, but I've always been an encourager—whatever my children are interested in, I want to help them pursue that to the best of their ability. So I was all for it, and I told her I was going to be Mama Bear. Like, I’m going to protect you and be right by your side and help you make the right decisions and make sure nobody takes advantage of you. But my boys wanted nothing to do with the entertainment industry. Lev manages our wine brand [Bure Family Wines] and just got married. Maks is our baby and works in the wine industry with another company. He’s 22, so he’s figuring it out.

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What’s your advice to other empty nesters?

The first thing I always say is, “They leave—but then they come back.” But it feels so weird at first, especially if you are a close family and close to your kids, which we are, and it can feel very sad and lonely. Your house feels empty for the first time and there isn't the hustle and bustle and voices and friends and activity going on. But here's the thing: Just because they're not with you in person doesn't mean that you have to stop the communication.

It also gives you a time to really reconnect with your spouse, and that's what I encourage people to do. Don’t be so wrapped up in the kids that you forget about your marriage or your partner for life, because you still want to have things in common with them once the kids leave. Put that same amount of time and energy into your marriage.

Can you talk a bit about how and why faith plays such an important role in your life?

My faith is the cornerstone of who I am. It's where my worldview comes from. I value the Bible so very much as the blueprint or the guide for my life, and it's not something that I can leave at the doorstep. So that has been an incredible guiding light in my life, but it's also seeped into every aspect of my life. I’m really proud of it.

Has it been a challenge for you in your industry?

I would say for the most part it's probably helped me in my career. When I was a co-host on The View [from 2015-16], the producer told me, “We hired you as a reflection of a woman who is strong in your faith, and so we would love to hear your voice on this panel.” And that was surprising to me, because a lot of times we don't think of Hollywood as a super-faithful place. So I feel like God opened those doors for me to be able to use my voice, and it was embraced more than there was pushback. That's not to say I haven't had pushback. I certainly have over my career, and it's getting a little bit tougher today. As our culture progresses, as every year goes on, it gets a little bit harder. And yet it just makes me stand firmer and more grounded and understanding of who I want to be.

You turn 50 in a few years. Does that cross your mind a lot?

More than I care to admit! But I have to say I have loved every decade more and more. I couldn’t wait to get out of my 20s. Once I was in my 30s, I felt that I was more mature. And in my 40s, I’ve gained so much wisdom and self-assurance. I know who I am a whole lot more than I did a decade ago. And so with 50 approaching, I'm not scared about it. I’m 100 percent embracing it. I don’t want the years to pass by any faster than they have to, but I'm very much looking forward to entering that decade of my life.

Last question: Many longtime Full House fans cue up a rerun at the end of a long day. Do you ever do the same?

I haven't watched Full House in a very, very long time. I will say—and I'm a little embarrassed to admit it—I've done it a couple times with Fuller House episodes. Like, if it’s a bad day, I might turn on an episode. I’ll watch the episode with New Kids on the Block. It just makes me smile.

This interview has been condensed and edited for length and clarity.

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