She’s played a dreamgirl, a frog-kissing Disney princess and a candidate for state attorney in a recurring role on The Good Wife. This week, Anika Noni Rose adds pastor’s wife to her resume of roles with her portrayal of Annette, who’s married to Laurence Fishburne’s drug dealer-turned-preacher character in the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation Mitch Albom’s Have a Little Faith, based on Albom’s bestseller.

“I start out in my 20s and I end up in my 50s, and it’s very rare that you get that opportunity to play a character like that,” Rose explains the attraction of the role. She got to meet the real Annette and her family, which she calls an “amazing and beautiful” experience. “She was on set a lot and I spent a lot of time talking with her. She told me how life was,” says Rose, who related to the film’s perfect-for-the-holidays themes of faith, charity, redemption and hope.

“We’re at a time when people have lost hope about a lot of things and it’s very important for us to realize that there is always hope. At a time when it is darkest, when there is no light around, there is always hope,” she believes. “And there’s always room to give. When you think that you have nothing and want to hold your hand tightest you have to realize that you cut yourself off from the gifts you could be receiving.”

Rose, a Broadway musical veteran who gets to sing briefly in a church scene in the movie, is preparing to record an album. “We’ve got material picked out and we’re trying to see where we’re going to go with it.” She’ll also play the spirit of a dead blues singer, Sara Tidwell, in Stephen King’s Bag of Bones, a miniseries that will air on A&E December 11 and 12.

In case you missed the premiere on ABC, Mitch Albom’s Have a Little Faith has repeat broadcasts on Hallmark Channel December 4, 8 and 11.

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