Hilary Farr is an actor, TV host, and house designer from Canada. She was reared in Toronto, Canada, and has always had a strong creative side to her personality. Her mother loved to travel and decorated her house. As a result, throughout her early adolescent years, Hilary became quite interested in the same. Hilary participated in theater as a child and had a passion for the performing arts. Hilary’s profession started when she relocated to Los Angeles and undertook numerous home renovations. She also did art direction and set design for a number of movies. She auditioned for a few roles in the early 1970s because she was interested in acting at the same time. She has a few cameos in movies including “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” “Layout for 5 Models,” “Sex Farm,” and “Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width.” Her main experience has been as an interior designer in the US, Australia, and the UK. She has been a co-host of the reality TV program “Love It or List It” since 2008.
Early Life & Childhood
On August 31, 1951, Hilary Labow was born in Toronto, Canada, and became Hilary Farr. After that, her parents relocated to London, where she spent the most of her formative years. Her mother loved to travel and had an eye for art. Hilary’s passion in art was sparked by traveling with her mother on the majority of her trips.
Her passion for interior design, meanwhile, didn’t blossom until much later. Hilary’s childhood dream was to become a ballet dancer. She engaged in ballet classes at London’s “Royal Ballet School.” But by the time she became eleven, she had different interests. She wanted to act by then and had grown interested in the performing arts.
While her mother worked at “Liberties of London,” a store that sold antiques, she began performing in plays at school. Hilary became fascinated with interior design after visiting some of London’s historic and stunning architectural landmarks. Hilary’s mother used to take her to beautiful old homes and auction houses.
Hilary’s lifelong dream of interior design came true when her mother requested her to redecorate the interiors of their former home. She graduated from Toronto’s “Ryerson University” with honors. She did, however, move to Los Angeles in the early 1970s to pursue film and television opportunities because acting was her first love.
Career of Hilary Farr
In order to pursue a career in acting and design, she relocated to Los Angeles. While living in Los Angeles, she began her career as a designer and purchased numerous homes to remodel and restore. During that time, she worked for interior design firms and performed other part-time tasks. She also began designing sets for movies and created the residences that were portrayed in the movies.
She also went to a lot of movie auditions. She had a minor part in the 1972 movie “Layout for 5 Models,” which was her acting debut. She starred in the movie “Sex Farm” in 1973.
She had an appearance in the British comedy “Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width” that same year. The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Legend of the Werewolf, and City on Fire are a few of her other well-known motion pictures. Out of all of these, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” become a horror movie cult classic.
Hilary focused on her profession in designing and refurbishing when she was unable to secure enough respectable acting roles. She has experience working as a designer in places like Toronto and New York. She has also held jobs in the UK and Australia. In addition, she was engaged by well-known American actors to design and restore their homes, including Jenna Elfman and Jennifer Hudson.
She was among the first designers in Toronto to introduce the idea of house staging. The idea is to organize the furniture and other items in the house so as to improve its overall appeal.
2008 saw her return to Toronto following a difficult divorce. She received a TV show appearance opportunity for “Love It or List It” the same year. Later on, it inspired a franchise.
The show, which is still broadcast on Canadian TV, centers on two couples who are dissatisfied with the interiors of their houses. The hosts, who are also designers, give the couples ideas for remodeling their homes. David Visentin, the other host, is primarily a pessimist, but Hilary, one of the hosts, is optimistic about the possibility of the homes becoming lovely in the future.
The show became one of the most popular variety shows on Canadian TV because of its distinctive content. Ninety of the 154 episodes of the show that have aired have seen Hilary defeat David.
Although the reality show’s legitimacy was questioned at first, the producers and the cast eventually stated that the program was not staged. The program was broadcast on television in nine different nations, and it was a hit in each of them.
Throughout its existence, the program garnered multiple honors. 2010 saw nominations for “Love It or List It” for two “Gemini Awards,” including “Best Reality Program or Series” and “Best Direction in a Reality Program or Series.” The show’s creators declared that it was one of the most watched TV episodes in HGTV’s history when it debuted.
Notable figures have praised the show, including Hillary Clinton, who at one point said it was her favorite TV program. Celebrities Vanna White and Julianne Moore were also fans of the series.
When a competitor on the show alleged that the remodeling of his property was improperly done and that the hosts had not actively participated in the process, Hilary and the show’s organizers were thrust into a significant scandal in April 2016. The claims were denied by the network, and the matter was resolved in April 2017.
In 2010, Hilary made an additional appearance on the program “Search for the Next W Expert” as a host. By 2011, Hilary had made multiple TV appearances and was well-known in the Canadian entertainment industry. She was also invited to the Toronto, Vancouver, and Edmonton-hosted “Canadian International Interior Design Show.”
She has also been a guest on “The Marilyn Denis Show” and contributes regularly to “The Huffington Post.” In 2014, she received an invitation to attend the “Art Van Furniture” convention in Orland Park, Chicago, Illinois, as a guest and design expert.
She was able to indulge her passion for acting in 2016 when she went on to star in a major part in the Toronto stage version of “Sleeping Beauty.” In the play, she played the role of “Malignicent.”
Individual Life of Hilary Farr
In 2008, Hilary Farr and writer and producer Gordon Farr ended their marriage. Her co-host on “Love It or List It,” David Visentin, and she met in the same year. Rumor has it that the two had been dating. They haven’t both acknowledged the relationship, though. From her union with Gordon Farr, she had a son.
Net worth of Hilary Farr
The estimated net worth of Hilary Farr is about $1 million.