Jennifer Taylor is an angel on a mission from God in the new miniseries “Saved By Grace.”
The 50-year-old actress, who previously starred as Chelsea Melini on the long-running CBS comedy “Two and a Half Men,” plays Grace, a divine being who intercedes in the lives of ordinary humans to help answer their prayers.
While Taylor’s new series may seem a departure from the bawdy sitcom for which she is best known, the New Jersey native told Fox News Digital there’s a connection between the two.
“Without ‘Two and a Half Men,’ I wouldn’t be on ‘Saved by Grace,’” Taylor said.
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The actress explained that getting the role of the first woman that Charlie Sheen’s playboy character confessed he loved was a miracle in itself.
Taylor was cast as Charlie Harper’s future fiancée in 2008 amid the economic crisis and a writers strike that brought many productions to a halt. At the time, she was struggling to find work and on the verge of leaving acting behind. Taylor had already made plans to move out of Los Angeles with her husband and two children.
“We were going to move back home to Florida because things were really hard out here,” she said.
“We put our house up for sale, and then I’m like, ‘All right, I’m going to go back to school.’ I started studying again to finish my bachelor’s and then, literally, seven days later, I got Chelsea.
“So I said, OK, God, I guess we’re not going anywhere yet,” she added. “It was an answer to prayer.”
Taylor was no stranger to the “Two and Half Men” set because she had played three characters in earlier seasons of the show. She appeared briefly in the pilot episode then returned in the second season as an ex-girlfriend of Charlie’s and played his potential one-night stand in season 5.
The ups and downs of Chelsea and Charlie’s relationship were a main storyline of the show’s sixth and seventh seasons. Sheen was fired from “Two and Half Men” in season 8 after making a string of derogatory remarks about creator Chuck Lorre.
At the time, the actor had also entered rehab for drug and alcohol addiction and was facing allegations of abuse from multiple women.
Taylor said she only had positive experiences with Sheen, whom she described as a “normal, fun, nice guy.”
“When I was on it, the day-to-day experience was wonderful,” she told Fox News Digital.
“I got along with Charlie really, really well. He did his job. He’s very good at it. I also kind of had blinders on a little bit because I had two small children. I was finishing my bachelor’s degree at the same time. I came to work, and I came home.
“I don’t follow tabloids or anything,” Taylor added. “So I didn’t really know until things started going a little haywire.”
While she said she knew there was some “bad blood” between Lorre and Sheen, she had good relationships with both and series co-lead Jon Cryer.
“Working on that sitcom was my first really big job. And I was just so glad to be there,” she said.
“I just look back on it with nothing but fond memories,” Taylor added. “I learned so much by watching them every day. I was just like, ‘Am I really getting to work with these people?’ I kept on waiting for them to figure out that I shouldn’t be there.”
Though Taylor has appeared in a variety of different projects across many genres, including Adam Sandler’s comedy “The Waterboy,” the neo-noir thriller “Wild Things” and the spy TV series “Burn Notice,” she said she has increasingly found herself drawn to faith-based content.
“As I have gotten older and have kids and think about the mark that I’m leaving now, I want some of the things that I do to mean something,” she said.
“Any acting job is a miracle and a blessing in itself, and I’m thrilled for that. But if it’s something where I get to share my faith, that might help somebody down the road. There’s just so much dark stuff on, and I think people are craving things that offer them something more.”
Prior to starring on “Saved by Grace,” Taylor appeared in Pure Flix’s 2018 Christian drama “God’s Not Dead: A Light in the Darkness.” She also starred opposite Billy Ray Cyrus in the 2014 Christian film “Like a Country Song.”
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“Saved by Grace” premiered Nov. 6 and has been compared to classic shows such as “Touched by an Angel” and “Highway to Heaven.” Taylor told Fox News Digital she believes shows about angels are beloved by audiences because they provide “that hope that there is something else out there and that God uses them to help us.”
“I think there is just a lot of hope and thinking that anybody you meet could be sent there to guide you,” Taylor said.
“As a believer, I know that there are angels. Do we get to see them all the time? I think mostly, no. But sometimes in hindsight, you walk away from a situation like there is no earthly way that that just happened.”
Taylor said she believes viewers will be comforted and inspired by the five-part series.
“I think they’re going to look at their days and their troubles and their trials in a different way,” she said. “And I think if they can come away and say, ‘I can ask for help and help will be given,’ I think that that alone just gives you the hope that you think that you can’t muster up.
“There’s so much hope,” she added. “And I think people are really hungry for that.”
“Saved by Grace” is streaming now on Pure Flix.
