Christopher Rich & Reba McEntire Reunite on Happy's Place: All About the Actor
The actor behind Brock Hart is reuniting with his Reba co-stars as a tattoo artist on NBC's Happy's Place.
It’s been far too long since we’ve gotten to witness some classic Reba, Brock, and Barbra Jean banter. But good news! Months after Steve Howey reunited with his Reba co-stars on NBC’s Happy’s Place, Christopher Rich is now joining the lineup of guest stars.
From 2001 to 2007, Reba McEntire, Melissa Peterman, and Rich shared the screen together for all six seasons of the beloved sitcom Reba. And the band is getting back together once again in an all-new episode of Happy’s Place with Rich guest starring as a tattoo artist with a playful yet mischievous sense of humor.
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Read on to learn all about the actor, how he knew McEntire years before Reba, his sweet family, and more.
Christopher Rich is a husband and dad of three daughters
Born in Dallas, Texas, Rich is a proud dad of three. The actor has one daughter, Mariel, with his ex-wife, actress Nancy Frangione. In 2004, he welcomed two more daughters, fraternal twins Lily Hanna and Daisy Grace, with his wife, Eva Halina Rich.
Rich’s wife Eva also has an impressive resumé. Born in Poland, Halina Rich is a former Olympic gymnast, trapeze artist, model, and actress. She’s had roles in a variety of series including The Drew Carey Show and even shared the screen with her husband in a Season 2 episode of Reba.
Rich gushes about his family on Instagram, writing in one post that his wife and daughters are the “prettiest girls in the world.”
Christopher Rich's acting credits include Reba and many more
While Rich is perhaps best known for playing Brock Hart for all six seasons of Reba, his acting credits date back to the ‘80s when he starred as Sandy Cory in the NBC soap opera Another World. He also had roles in films such as The Joy Luck Club and Flight of the Intruder, in addition to many other short films and television series including The Nanny, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, ER, Desperate Housewives, and Boston Legal.
Years before Rich and McEntire starred on Reba together, they both worked on the 1991 western drama The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw. (You can watch a clip of them in the movie here.) “It’s funny how things turn out in this business,” Rich told The Spokesman-Review in 2004. “We enjoyed working together [on The Gambler Returns] and said we looked forward to doing it again at some point. And here we are.”
Reba premiered in 2001 and quickly gained a devoted fan following, which Rich once said he believed was due to the show’s relatability on issues like divorce, parenting, and family. In a 2004 interview with the Associated Press, Rich said Reba told “a very common American story.”
“Everybody’s had some sort of heartbreak and you have to continue on. This is a show about continuing on,” Rich explained, adding that he admired McEntire’s “work ethic” on the sitcom. “She always keeps her spirit up, as much as you can ask anyone to do.”
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Christopher Rich reunites with his Reba co-stars on Happy’s Place
Nearly 20 years after Reba aired its final episode, Rich is reuniting with his former co-stars on NBC’s Happy’s Place on Friday, February 21.
In Season 1, Episode 15 (“Sisters Ink”), Rich plays a local tattoo artist named Maverick who can only use his right hand to do his job after suffering a stroke and likes to playfully tease his new clients about it. In real life, Rich is also a stroke survivor and has been outspoken about his recovery journey.
During the episode, Bobbie (McEntire) has to quickly come up with a gift for Isabella (Belissa Escobedo), who thinks that gift will be matching sister tattoos, leading them to Maverick.
On Reba, Rich played Brock Hart, the ex-husband of McEntire’s character who marries his dental hygienist Barbra Jean (Peterman) after getting her pregnant. “It’s one of my favorite experiences in my life, actually,” Rich said of being on Reba in a 2021 interview on the Tobin Tonight podcast. “I’m still extremely close with those cast members, they really are a family. I loved playing [Brock].”
Indeed, the whole cast posed for a photo when they got together for Rich’s birthday in 2023, along with McEntire’s boyfriend and Happy’s Place co-star Rex Linn, Lance Bass, and Jamie-Lynn Sigler.
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“People always ask me what’s Reba like in real life,” Rich said on Tobin Tonight. “And I say, you know, everything that you see on screen or in the press about her and you think nobody that’s sweet. Guess what? She’s actually sweeter than that. And Melissa Peterman, I know she seems like such a whack job, but she is so magnificent.”
Watch Happy’s Place on Fridays at 8/7c on NBC. New episodes are available to stream the next day on Peacock.
