Rachael Leigh Cook on being the queen of Hallmark: ‘It feels honest’

From Laney Boggs to Santa Claus.  

Rachael Leigh Cook, who rose to fame in the 1990s after starring in teen movies like “She’s All That” and “Josie and the Pussycats,” is now the queen of Hallmark movies.

Her ascension to the throne comes after “Fuller House” star Candace Cameron Bure revealed her preference for the Great American Family network’s values and moved to the Tennessee company in April 2022 after years with the Hallmark Channel.

Cook’s latest flick, “Rescuing Christmas” (streaming on Hallmark Movies Now on Dec. 7), will be her ninth holiday movie for the platform. 

“I’m picky about what I do, in the sense that I prefer really positive content,” Cook, 44, told The Post. “In terms of my viewing preferences, I love trash reality TV, and a good drama,” she added, citing “Succession,” “Cobra Kai” and “The Golden Bachelor” as recent shows that she’s enjoyed. 

“But, otherwise, I’ve never been drawn to stuff that’s especially dark or scary,” she said. “So, in that sense, uplifting content has rung true for me, and has been something I moved towards.

“So [my work with Hallmark] felt like a natural extension of what’s honest to me.” 

In “Rescuing Christmas,” Cook stars as Erin, a woman who has become a bit of a Scrooge about the holiday. But after she’s magically granted three wishes, she accidentally erases Christmas from existence, and scrambles to right that wrong — with help from her brother-in-law’s colleague, Sam (Sam Page, “The Bold Type”). 

“We filmed it in Duluth, [Minnesota], which was about two hours from [Minneapolis], where I’m from. It’s such a gift to be able to bring jobs to where you’re from, indirectly,” she said.

For her part, Cook said that she doesn’t have any particular holiday traditions in her household (she has son Theodore, 8, and daughter Charlotte, 10, with her ex-husband, “The Vampire Diaries” actor Daniel Gillies) — but that she often takes her kids to look at the lights on decked-out houses (their favorite seasonal watches include “Elf” and “Home Alone”).

“I do think that ‘Die Hard’ is a Christmas movie [and] I will get behind that notion,” she added. 

Cook has also executive-produced and developed many of her Hallmark movies, including “Rescuing Christmas.” 

“Over the years, I’ve been able to be involved creatively, along the way. I’m pretty nosy; I like to have my hands on things, and to be able to raise my voice, have it be heard and taken seriously,” she said. “When you’ve been in the business long enough, you can’t help wanting to speak a bit more. That’s been gratifying.”

Cook hasn’t lost her roots, however. She said fans still regularly approach her about her early work, such as “She’s All That” and “Josie and the Pussycats,” and that she’s still in touch with some of those early co-stars. 

“My vanity is always thrilled to be recognizable as the same human I was 18 years ago, not gonna lie, that feels pretty good!” she said. “I feel lucky that Netflix and Hallmark have kept me in the dialogue, as it were.

“I saw Tara Reid a couple months ago [and] she’s a firecracker,” she said. “She came to the premiere of my Netflix movie, ‘A Tourist’s Guide to Love.’ And when the credits came up and my name showed up, nobody was louder. She hollered, ‘Yeah, that’s my girl!’

“That’s what friendship looks like.”