Biography
Barbara Niven is an American actress, writer and producer, best known for her performances in Hallmark and Lifetime movies, and for television roles and independent films. She is also a motivational speaker, media trainer, and animal rights activist and spokesperson as a National Ambassador for American Humane.
Known For
Complete Filmography

Pie To Die For: A Hannah Swensen Mystery
2025
as Delores Swensen
When Hannah's customer and Delores' theater rival is murdered, Hannah must find her killer in order to save her mother's reputation. Chad and Hannah's...

Reality Bites: A Hannah Swensen Mystery
2025
as Delores Swensen
Hannah's favorite reality show takes over The Cookie Jar. When the producer is found dead, Hannah and Norman team up to track down the killer. Chad in...

Leah's Perfect Gift
2024
as Barbara
Leah Meyer, a Jewish woman who has always dreamed of experiencing a traditional Christmas, faces unexpected challenges when she spends the holidays wi...

A Sprinkle of Deceit: A Hannah Swensen Mystery
2024
as Delores Swensen
Hannah and Chad flirt with their own paths to solve the same murder while working to clear a colleague who is implicated in the crime. Meanwhile, Delo...

One Bad Apple: A Hannah Swensen Mystery
2024
as Delores Swensen
Hannah Swensen has been asked to teach a baking class at the college in town, but her equipment is tampered with causing an explosion that the fire de...

The Last Word
2023
as Jillian Harper
Brett Harper is a successful novelist who depended on his wife Jillian to write the last paragraph of every book. And then, she died in a car accident...

Ms. Christmas Comes to Town
2023
as Gayle
When Ms. Christmas, a shopping channel host, receives a terminal diagnosis, she heads on a multi-city excursion to spread Christmas cheer.

A Zest For Death: A Hannah Swensen Mystery
2023
as Delores Swensen
They say the real estate business is deadly, but no one is more surprised than Hannah Swensen when her mother, Delores, discovers the dead body of the...

Carrot Cake Murder: A Hannah Swensen Mystery
2023
as Delores Swensen
A skeleton found in Lake Eden reveals the true identity of a beloved resident. Despite her fiancé's disapproval, Hannah investigates the murder and en...

Christmas at the Golden Dragon
2022
as Jane
When Romy and Rick’s parents surprise them with the news that they will be closing the Chinese restaurant they have owned and operated for decades, th...

North to Home
2022
as Suzanne
Suzanne McBride is excited to spend her birthday with her family. It will be the first time that her three adopted daughters will be together in years...

The Christmas Contest
2021
as Donna
Exes Lara and Ben compete in a Christmas contest to win money for the charity of their choosing. The city watches them battle and choose what is more ...

Sweet Revenge: A Hannah Swensen Mystery
2021
as Delores Swensen
As Hannah and Mike experience engaged life while balancing their busy careers, a murder at a 24-hour gym complicates their wedding planning.

Crossword Mysteries: Riddle Me Dead
2021
as Candace
Tess gets invited to be a part of a popular game show, but when the host is unexpectedly murdered, she and Detective Logan O'Connor seek to uncover wh...

Crossword Mysteries: Terminal Descent
2021
as Aunt Candace
After volunteering to participate in a crossword solving competition with a new supercomputer, crossword puzzle editor Tess Harper finds herself swept...

Christmas in Evergreen: Bells Are Ringing
2020
as Carol Shaw
As Michelle’s wedding approaches, Hannah steps up to help finish the launch of the new Evergreen museum while questioning her relationship and future ...

USS Christmas
2020
as Elizabeth
Maddie, a reporter for a Norfolk newspaper, embarks on a Tiger Cruise during Christmastime where she meets a handsome naval officer and stumbles upon ...

Crossword Mysteries: Abracadaver
2020
as Aunt Candace
During her birthday celebration, Tess and Logan find themselves swept up in a world that isn't always what it seems when the headlining magician at th...

Christmas In Evergreen: Tidings of Joy
2019
as Carol Shaw
A skeptical writer shows up in Evergreen to get the scoop on the town's famed passion for Christmas during a search for a long-lost time capsule.

Crossword Mysteries: Proposing Murder
2019
as Aunt Candace
When an old friend of New York Sentinel Crosswords editor Tess Harper is found murdered on the very day her puzzle includes his proposal of marriage, ...

Love Takes Flight
2019
as Virginia Beauman
A workaholic hospital director is forced to re-examine her rigid lifestyle when a free-wheeling EMS pilot enters her life.

Crossword Mysteries: A Puzzle to Die For
2019
as Aunt Candace
A crossword puzzle editor finds her life completely disrupted when several of the clues in her recent puzzles are linked to unsolved crimes, and she i...

Love on the Menu
2019
as Andrea
When chef Hank makes a deal with frozen food executive Maggie to save his restaurant, their unexpected attraction complicates matters, leaving Maggie ...

Christmas in Evergreen: Letters to Santa
2018
as Carol Shaw
Lisa's trip home to Evergreen for the holidays finds her shepherding an effort to save the town's beloved general store, fulfilling the wishes of a Ch...

Christmas in Evergreen
2017
as Carol
Allie, a veterinarian in Evergreen, reluctantly will spend Christmas with her long-distance boyfriend. Bound for the airport, she has engine trouble, ...

Habeas Corpus: The Making of 'Psycho Cop Returns'
2017
as Herself
Retrospective documentary on the making of the low-budget horror slasher film Psycho Cop Returns (1993).

Murder, She Baked: Just Desserts
2017
as Delores Swensen
Hannah Swensen is thrilled when she is chosen as a guest for the first Eden Lake Dessert Bake-Off, but when fellow judge, Coach Bishop is found murder...

Campfire Kiss
2017
as Beverly
Feeling disconnected with her teenage son, a protective mother decides to step outside of her comfort zone and take him camping. But as soon as she ar...

Murder, She Baked: A Deadly Recipe
2016
as Delores Swensen
Bakery owner Hannah Swensen just can't keep her hands out of the batter when murder stirs things up in Lake Eden, Minnesota, leaving the sheriff dead,...

Murder, She Baked: A Peach Cobbler Mystery
2016
as Delores Swensen
With The Cookie Jar, Hannah Swensen has a mouthwatering monopoly on the bakery business of Lake Eden, Minnesota. But when a rival store opens, and one...

Hamlet's Ghost
2015
as Sarah Goodman
A modern Shakespearean actor must travel back in time to confront enigmatic forces from the past and future.

Murder, She Baked: A Plum Pudding Mystery
2015
as Delores Swensen
A young bakeshop owner’s holiday season takes a surprising turn when she finds a body at a local Christmas tree lot and winds up involved in a dangero...

Murder, She Baked: A Chocolate Chip Cookie Mystery
2015
as Delores Swensen
Based on the New York Times bestselling book, Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke, the film will take viewers on a mouthwatering mystery that...

Suburban Gothic
2014
as Eve
An awkward, unemployed man who can talk to the dead teams up with a rebellious bartender to find the vengeful ghost that's been terrorizing their town...

Being Us
2014
as Julie
When a woman with multiple personality disorder finds herself uncontrollably chasing danger, she's ready to end it all. Can a relationship with one go...

Meth Head
2013
as Madelaine
Kyle Peoples never wanted to be the man he has become in his 30s, an accountant stuck in a dead end job, with a lover who is more successful than he a...

Home Invasion
2012
as Tricia Patterson
After a woman kills a home invasion robber in self-defense, his vengeful girlfriend befriends her at a crime victim support group and sets about tryin...

A Perfect Ending
2012
as Rebecca Westridge
This intimate drama follows Rebecca, a woman who has kept her sexuality a secret from her friends but chooses to reveal it to a stranger. While Rebecc...

My Mother's Secret
2012
as Evelyn Wells
When a woman becomes pregnant and tells the news to his mother is revealed to him that she is adopted. Then decides to search for his biological famil...

Gabe the Cupid Dog
2012
as Ms. Andrews
When Eric and Marsha break off their long-term relationship, journalist Eric is able to weather it pretty well. He still has his long time canine comp...

Heat Wave
2010
as Gouverneur Carol Quinlan
When a sudden, unexplained rise in local temperatures threatens to turn Los Angeles County into a parched, lifeless desert, one scientist must put her...

Accused at 17
2009
as Claire Werner
A teenager is accused of murdering a classmate and claims that she was framed by her best friend. Her mother must try to find the truth.

Summer's Blood
2009
as Gaia Hoxey
A demented handyman comes to the rescue of a young woman, then imprisons her in his basement.

Black Widow
2008
as Tiffany Collins
Mel, a photo journalist, gets suspicious when her best friend Danny start dating Olivia a wealthy but mysterious woman. She enlists the help of her as...

Moonlight & Mistletoe
2008
as Ginny
After three years, Nick's estranged daughter Holly returns home to find the spirit of Christmas in Santaville has dwindled, taking the family business...

Short Track
2008
as Audrey Beckett
Carolinian Blake Beckett (Pepper Sweeney), the son of a stock car racing legend, is a 4-time short track racing champion. Blake never made it to the s...

Dead at 17
2008
as Alyssa Harris
When Alyssa's 17-year-old son Jason commits suicide, something doesn't sit right. As she and her daughter Danni begin to take a deeper look in the cir...

Redline
2007
as Sally Martin
A gorgeous young automobile fanatic--and front to the hottest unsigned band on the West coast--finds herself caught up in illegal drag-racing competit...

A Valentine Carol
2007
as Jackie Marley
In this Valentine’s Day riff on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, a cynical, superficial radio talk show host is visited by the ghost of her predece...

McBride: Semper Fi
2007
as Claire Whitman
Mike McBride is a curmudgeon with a heart of gold. He takes cases based on their merit rather than on their monetary value, which often leads to terse...

All You've Got
2006
as Peggy McDonald
Three friends' love for volleyball is tested to the limit when their school burns to the ground and they are forced to join a rival school in order to...

Murder in My House
2006
as Lauren Kessler
A retired lawyer and his daughter investigates a murder that had taken place in their new home. However, the two are unaware of the the dangers they a...

Mystery Woman: Wild West Mystery
2006
as Annie
When former TV star Clint Taylor brings his Wild West show into town, murder becomes the featured attraction for bookstore owner Samantha Kinsey. Sama...

Double Cross
2006
as Suzanne Debson
Two women jokingly agree to kill each others' husbands. Then one really does and blackmails the other into killing her own.

The Perfect Neighbor
2005
as Donna Germaine
A disturbed new neighbor fixates on another woman's husband.

Stranger in My Bed
2005
as Christine Goudet
To escape her abusive spouse, Sarah fakes her own death and flees. Seems like a good plan, right? Sadly, it doesn't take her estranged husband long to...

Back to You & Me
2005
as Connie Murray
After befriending a patient and then losing her to cancer, Dr. Sydney Ludwick decides to take some much needed time off to attend the 20th anniversary...

Chasing Ghosts
2005
as Patricia King
A serial killer targeting the city's mobsters taunts police with clues and photos left behind at the crime scenes. A veteran cop takes on a rookie par...

The Drone Virus
2004
as Dr. Sloan
The unthinkable strikes when the advanced MRI scanner within a hospital forces Dr. Colleen O'Brian to choose between her superiors and a desperate fat...

Tiger Cruise
2004
as Kate Dolan
On its last leg homeward, from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii to San Diego, the USS Constellation hosts a jolly "tiger cruise" for US Navy, Marines and USNAF re...

A Carol Christmas
2003
as Sexy TV Star
Carol Cartman, a tempestuous talk show host, is a high-heeled, high-maintenance Scrooge. This insensitive, self-centered and stingy woman is about to ...

Alone with a Stranger
2000
as Sandy Kennington
Max never had the good things in life. A life of crime was his only legacy. So when he discovers an unknown brother, to whom fortune has granted all t...

I Married a Monster
1998
as Linda
Kelly's new husband Nick begins behaving oddly, showing a surprising desire to make babies and shun his drinking buddies. Little does she know he's no...

The Rat Pack
1998
as Marilyn Monroe
After a brief flash-forward to Frank Sinatra as an old man, saying "I miss my guys," the movie's main narrative begins during high points in the solo ...

Serial Killing 101
1998
as Donna Noland
Casey Noland, a high school kid with no direction in life, decides to pursue the serial killing profession. Only problem...he can't bring himself to k...

Breast Men
1997
as Cindy
We follow the two Texas doctors who invented the modern breast implant and its surgical procedure. However, when success and money come their way, the...

Doublecross on Costa's Island
1997
as Veronica
Six years after stopping a multi-national arms deal that would have wiped out Los Angeles, Agent Enrico Costa (Franco Columbu) is tracked down at his ...

Humanoids from the Deep
1996
as Fran Taylor
In this remake to the original 1980 ecological horror movie, a secret government experiment turns nightmarish when genetically altered fish, bred as a...

Foxfire
1996
as Goldie's Stepmother
The story of five teenage girls who form an unlikely bond after beating up a teacher who has sexually harassed them. They build a solid friendship but...

Depraved
1996
as Monica Stienman
Steamy erotic thriller centering on Opella and Dan, a couple whose sexual fantasies get so wild, Dan wants to put a stop to them. When Opella is disco...

Lone Tiger
1996
as Jane Costello
Kurenai travels to Las Vegas to search for his father's killer. Broke and with nowhere to stay he seeks refuge in an alley where he hears cries for he...

The Sister-in-Law
1995
as Ashley Hawkins
A man finally meets his daughter-in-law for the first time when his son tragically dies. He and the rest of the family like her, but she has a deadly ...

Under Lock and Key
1995
as Tina Lam
A drug lord's prison connections make this a dangerous and deadly assignment for undercover FBI agent Danielle Peters.

Taken Alive
1994
as Veronica
A beautiful secret agent recruits a local sculptor to aid her in rescuing a presidential candidate's kidnapped mistress.

Psycho Cop Returns
1993
as Sharon
A group of office workers decide to have a party in the office building. Among other things, they want to have some drugs there. Their conversation on...

Illegal Entry: Formula for Fear
1993
as Pamela Raby
A masked killer has murdered a young girl's parents and is now stalking her. It seems that her father had developed a secret formula that would end wo...

Hired to Kill
1990
as Sheila
A fashion photographer and seven models travel to a South American island fortress, ostensibly to do a fashion shoot. In reality, the photographer is ...

Fatal Encounter
1990
as Laura
A woman finds out that her biological father, a professional race car driver, was murdered twenty years ago and the murderer or murderers are still on...

Promise
1986
as Joan
Bob returns home for his mother’s funeral knowing that he must fulfill a promise made 30 years earlier—to care for his younger brother DJ, who is schi...
It Happened at Christmas
N/A
Cooked to Death: A Hannah Swensen Mystery
N/A
as Delores Swensen
Hannah's set to marry Ross, but a dessert contest turns sour when celebrity chef Duquesne is murdered. Juggling nuptials and competition, she must unr...