Amber Marshall Goes Home to a Real Farm After Every Heartland Filming Day

Long before her co-stars arrive on set, Amber Marshall has already put in two hours of hard labor. The star of Heartland wakes up around 4:30 every morning—not to sit in hair and makeup, but to feed her horses, dogs, cats, pigs, chickens, and even a peacock.

Amber has played Amy Fleming, a kind horse whisperer living on an Alberta ranch, since 2007. The role has always felt natural to her because she grew up living that exact life. As a kid in Ontario, she spent most of her time outside catching frogs, riding horses starting at age four, and even training to become a veterinary assistant in her early teens. By the time she was cast on the show, Amy’s world was already second nature to her.

Moving out west to film only sealed the deal.

“The west just absorbed me,” she shared. “Once I moved out there, I discovered a whole new sense of myself and I can’t imagine ever leaving.” Today, she runs her real-life farm with her husband, Shawn Turner. Instead of fancy luxury getaways, their idea of a good break is camping and fishing together in the Rocky Mountains.

Filming Heartland is hard work, often running up to 14 hours a day between May and December. But Amber never complains. Most of what Amy Fleming does on screen is stuff Amber has already finished doing at home before the sun comes up.

Fans feel that authenticity. Viewers voted her the winner of the first Canada’s Screen Star Award back in 2013, showing just how deeply connected people feel to her. Early in her acting career, she starred alongside Rob Lowe in The Christmas Shoes and earned award nominations for other roles. But nothing compares to the legacy of Heartland.

For nearly two decades, the series has kept fans hooked because it doesn’t try to be overly flashy. It tackles real, messy life—grief, relationship struggles, financial worries, and family loyalty. More than a million people in Canada still tune in every week because it brings a warm, comforting presence to television.

At the end of the day, Heartland works because the people on screen aren’t faking it.

Every single day, before the cameras roll, Amber Marshall steps outside to tend to her animals and run her farm. The line between Amy Fleming and the woman playing her is almost invisible—and that genuine heart is why fans keep tuning in season after season.