For more than a decade, Heartland has been comfort TV for millions — family, grief, horses, and big skies. And through it all, Amber Marshall has been at the center of that landscape, playing Amy Fleming, Canada’s most famous horse whisperer. When the show opened its fourteenth season with the sudden death of Amy’s husband Ty Borden, fans were blindsided. Marshall, less so.
“Graham [Wardle] told us five years earlier he wanted to move on,” she says. “We made storylines that gave him time off. Then he said, ‘I’m serious, I’m done.’ We’d already accepted it — but the fans got hit with it in the first five minutes.”
How It Started
When Heartland first aired in 2007, Marshall was in her late teens, coming off a TV movie where she played Elizabeth Smart. She didn’t imagine it would turn into a lifelong role, let alone a cultural landmark.
She and Wardle spent fourteen seasons playing a couple fans insisted must be real — much like Canadians once speculated about ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. “People would say, ‘You must be dating,’” she says, laughing. “We were both single, but such different people. My life’s animals; Graham’s never had one. Amy and Ty made sense on screen — that’s what acting does.”
The two built a believable partnership that, in a way, outlasted anything either had in real life. “We were portraying a relationship longer than I’ve known my husband,” Marshall says. “It’s strange, going to work to make out with your co-worker — but you make it real for the story.”
The Life They Built
For years, Heartland’s quiet success rested on a simple formula: familiar faces, Alberta’s open spaces, and the promise that every storm passes. When Wardle left, Marshall wondered if the show could survive. “My first thought was, this is the end of Heartland,” she says. “But it’s become my favorite season. The story goes back to what made the show strong — a family overcoming loss together. That’s where it started.”
She means it literally: the pilot began with Amy grieving her mother. Now, fourteen years later, it’s a full-circle echo — loss, resilience, new beginnings.
Off-screen, Marshall lives that rhythm. She runs a ranch west of Calgary with her husband and a small menagerie — horses, cows, chickens, ducks, even an alpaca. “Amy’s got blinders on for horses,” she says. “Me, I love all animals equally. My happiest place is with cows sniffing my back and chickens pecking around my feet.”
Over time, the writers folded more of Amber into Amy. “The longer I live here, the more we merge,” she says. “It’s bizarre, but true.”
Home and the Heart of It
Marshall’s bond with fans has been both genuine and intense. In the early days, she answered forty Facebook messages a night. “I didn’t realize people were moved by the show until I started hearing stories,” she recalls — notes from viewers who said Heartland helped them through depression or the loss of a parent.
That closeness once went too far — one fan convinced himself she’d sent him a personal message and showed up at an event with a gun. “I’m very open with fans,” she says carefully, “but that changed how I connect. You can’t assume everyone sees it the same way.”
Even so, she still answers messages on Instagram and posts glimpses of ranch life — morning chores, new foals, the quiet pride of a fence line after a hard day’s work.
A Simple Kind of Longevity
Why does Heartland last when flashier dramas fade? Marshall thinks it’s the opposite of what television chases now. “People are craving wholesome,” she says. “We get so used to fast-cut crime shows and blood and chaos. Heartland lets families slow down. You laugh, you cry, you feel warm at the end. That’s good TV.”
She remembers watching her first horse movie as a kid and freezing at the sight of a galloping animal on screen. “Even now,” she smiles, “if I see a horse running, I stop and stare — and I’ve got them outside my window.”
Closing Scene
She was born in London, Ontario, but Alberta changed her. “Heartland is Alberta. Alberta is Heartland,” she says simply. “I thought I’d be here a year or two. Then I rented an acreage, got some chickens, and realized — this is home.”
In the late light, her voice goes steady again. “I have my horses, my cows, my cats, my alpaca, and my husband. It’s a full life. Amy’s still chasing balance. I think I’ve found mine.”
Sources:
Maclean’s — “Heartland’s Amber Marshall on what makes the show’s devoted fans tick” (Interview by Aaron Hutchins, March 12 2021)
CBC — Heartland official site