Candace Cameron Bure Stars In The Lighthearted, Romantic Original GMC World Premiere Movie Finding Normal

ATLANTA, April 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- On Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19, GMC TV, America's favorite channel for uplifting entertainment, will present the funny, lighthearted and poignant  original GMC World Premiere Movie Finding Normal (#FindingNormal), a "fish-out-of-water" romantic comedy starring Candace Cameron Bure ("Full House," The Heart of Christmas), Lou Beatty Jr. ("Grey's Anatomy," "NCIS," "Betty White's Off Their Rockers"), Andrew Bongiorno ("Satisfaction," "Rush"), Mark Irvingsen ("True Justice") and Trevor St. John ("One Life to Live," "The Client List").  Brian Herzlinger (Christmas Angel, My Date with Drew) directs from a screenplay written by Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman.  Finding Normal was filmed in Columbia, Louisiana.  The movie will premiere exclusively on GMC TV on Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19 at 7:00, 9:00 and 11:00 p.m. ET/PT.

In Finding Normal, Candace Cameron Bure stars as the effortlessly attractive Dr. Lisa Leland, a brilliant, big city surgeon with absolutely no bedside manner.  She leaves her UCLA practice to move to New York's swanky Hamptons, where her concierge doctor boyfriend Dr. Steve (Andrew Bongiorno) treats the rich and famous.  Speeding cross-country to her new life, Lisa's distracted driving sends her BMW through the welcome sign of the tiny town of Normal, North Carolina (population 321), slogan "It's good to be Normal."  Slightly shaken and cited for numerous infractions by local police officer Lester O'Toole (Mark Irvingsen), the town's judge Shelby (Lou Beatty Jr.) finds Dr. Leland guilty and orders her to several days of community service – as a traveling doctor, making house-calls to all sorts of residents sorely in need of a local physician. Stuck in a town with no Wi–Fi, no lattes and no credit cards, Lisa grudgingly makes contact with Normal residents, including handy, principled Lucas Craig (Trevor St. John).  Alternately aggravated, challenged, and charmed by each person during this time, Lisa unknowingly discovers both herself and what a meaningful life is all about – all of which puts her once-sure path to New York into question.

"Finding Normal is a perfect movie for families looking for a romantic and inspirational story," said Barbara Fisher, SVP, Original Programming, GMC TV.  "GMC continues to expand our line up of original programming with content that features uplifting stories with popular, high-profile casts that appeal to a multi-cultural and multi-generational audience.  We are pleased to again work with the talented Candace Cameron Bure, who starred in one of our highest rated original movies, The Heart of Christmas."

Candace Cameron Bure is known worldwide for playing the role of D.J. Tanner from the hit television series "Full House," which runs in syndication in over 100 countries.  Her feature film credits include Punchline with Tom Hanks and Sally Field; the John Hughes film Some Kind of Wonderful; and the Cohen Brother's movie Monster Mash.  After Candace married NHL star Valeri Bure in 1996, she put her career on hold to stay home and raise a full house of her own.  She has been happily married for 13 years and is a mother of three children.  Over the past few years, Candace has guest starred in multiple television series and movies and fulfilled duties as a guest host on "The View."  She became a New York Times bestselling author with the release of her first book "Reshaping It All: Motivation for Physical and Spiritual Fitness."  Her second book is forthcoming in 2013 and will be published by B&H Publishing.  She is a National Ambassador for National House of Hope.   

Lou Beatty Jr. recently finished filming lead roles in films K-11 and Geezers and was also featured in the season ending episode of "Grey's Anatomy."  He has guest starred on "NCIS," "Boston Legal," "Without a Trace," "CSI Miami," "Bones," "Cold Case," "Las Vegas" and numerous other television series over the past two decades.  He currently appears as a prankster in "Betty White's Off Their Rockers."  

Andrew Bongiorno was recognized as "Best Under Sixteen Actor" at the "Guild Awards" and by seventeen, he was named by the "Shakespearean Globe Centre" as "Young Shakespearean Artist of the Year" for the second consecutive year. As a result of his achievements in the arts, Andrew was nominated for a "Young Australian of the Year award. A year later, Andrew was accepted into the prestigious Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). Finishing this three year degree, Andrew went on to do his first film work and subsequently found success at the world's biggest short film festival, "Tropicana" (Tropfest). By age 24, Andrew had received his first "Greenroom" award (Australia's Tony's) for his work on Sam Mendes' production of "Cabaret."  Having lived in London for two years, Andrew has worked with many respected international directors/writers, including Academy Award winner Nick Enright, "Academy Award" winner Sam Mendes and American television and Broadway theatre director BT McNichol.  Highlights from Andrew's career include working on the internationally award winning Australian television drama "Satisfaction" for Showtime and performing the lead in the world premiere of the play "The Red and the Black," for which he received critical acclaim.  After securing a green-card this year, Andrew moved to Los Angeles to further his international career and to refine his acting skills by coaching at Ivanna Chubbuck studio. He has appeared as a guest star in two television roles and as a lead in two feature film roles, which will film this spring. 

Mark Irvingsen plays "Officer Lester O'Toole."  He can also be seen in the upcoming Pure Flix films, Revelation Road 2 and Book of Esther.

Trevor St. John played "Todd Manning/ Victor Lord" in the daytime television drama "One Life to Live."  His additional credits include the films The Kingdom, The Bourne Ultimatum, Crimson Tide and Payback. He was most recently seen in the critically acclaimed independent movie In the Family and the television series "The Client List."  Trevor recently filmed a remake of Tarzan and two independent films, Dark Skies and Road Trip.

The movie's soundtrack features music by the following artists:

• Lanae Hale – "Love Is Worth The Fight" (lanaehale.com/)
• Tift Merritt – "Tell Me Something True" (tiftmerritt.com/)
• Jake Smith – "Stay" (jakesmithmusic.com/. Throughout his career, Jake has opened for artists like John Legend, Better Than Ezra and Marc Broussard. Jake's music has been seen in NBC's "Parenthood" and "One Tree Hill")
• Warren Barfield – "It's All Good" (from his well-received latest record, "Redbird")

For more information, please go to www.watchgmctv.com/gmc-world-premiere-movie-finding-normal.  Photos are available at www.watchgmctv.com/gmc/FindingNormalPressRoom.

Finding Normal is produced by PureFlix Entertainment and is directed by Brian Herzlinger.  Producers are David A.R. White, Elizabeth Travis, Russell Wolfe, Michael Scott and Anna Zielinski.

About Pure Flix Entertainment
Pure Flix Entertainment, LLC (PFE) is the largest inspirational film studio that produces, distributes, acquires and markets the most faith and family-friendly film properties. PFE unites some of the most respected and successful members of the Christian film community. It's the industry leader for the production and distribution of high quality, inspiring movies and television programs, while doing so with integrity. Impacting how they think can impact how they live and the choices they make. Mission Statement: transforming the human spirit through values based entertainment.  For more information, please go to www.pureflix.com.

About GMC TV
GMC TV (www.watchGMCtv.com) is America's favorite network for uplifting music and family entertainment.  The network presents original and acquired movies, series, stage plays and music specials along with gMovies, the first faith-friendly streaming movie service.  The GMC TV brand is reflected in "Uplift Someone," the network's successful pro-social initiative.  GMC TV can be seen in more than 62 million homes on various cable systems around the country, as well as DISH Network on channel 188, DIRECTV on channel 338 and Verizon FiOS on channel 224. Follow GMC TV on Facebook and Twitter at http://facebook.com/gmctv and http://twitter.com/gmctv, #UPTV.

SOURCE GMC TV