Photo credit: Ballerina Biker Photography

At just ten years old, Shiloh Verrico is making herself known as an actress, singer, and advocate for rescue animals. Shiloh is making her Netflix debut in the new series “Country Comfort.” The series follows ‘Bailey,’ an aspiring country singer who gets a job nannying five musically-inclined children who lost their mother two years prior. Shiloh’s character is the emotional center of the family, ‘Cassidy,’ who is having an especially difficult time coming to terms with the loss of her mother. Shiloh loves music and was able to use her talents singing and playing guitar and ukulele in the series.

When Shiloh isn’t filming or singing, she and her family foster rescue dogs and work with rescue organizations like the North Central Animal Shelter and Traveling 4 Paws. She has also donated to many animal rescue organizations such as Pit Crew Sacramento, Slaughterhouse Survivors, Love that Dog Hollywood, All 4 the Dogs, and Free Animal Doctor, and she hopes to one day have her own animal shelter. Continue reading to learn more about Shiloh Verrico, her acting and singing career, and the ways she is giving back wherever she can.

Where are you based?
I live in NJ, so I am a NY based actor, but after living in LA for almost 6 months last year I feel like I am based in LA as well now.

At what age did you discover your love for acting?
I always loved performing for my family and friends, singing and putting on shows, but it wasn’t until I did my first short films and theater productions that I realized how much I loved acting. I realized it was really hard work and long hours and I still loved every minute of it, and that’s when I knew this was something I really wanted to do seriously.

You also love singing and playing the ukulele and guitar, have you always been drawn to music?
I always loved singing and music, even when I could barely talk. I started singing along to songs in the car, theme songs from my favorite shows and movies, and people kept telling my mom that I needed to get into performing with music lessons and learn an instrument. When I was five, my mom found me a vocal coach and soon after I started taking guitar lessons.

Most recently, you are starring in the new Netflix show, “Country Comfort” as Cassidy, can you tell us about this new show and your character?
“Country Comfort” is a multi-cam family sitcom about a country singer named Bailey who loses her relationship, her band, and her home and ends up at the ranch of Beau Haywood, who is a widower, and his five children. They are looking for a new nanny and she needs a job, and somehow they end up becoming a family. What I love about this show is that it deals with human experiences that people all around the world can relate to. These kids are learning how to mourn a parent’s death, deal with their living parent having a new relationship, and learning how to make sense of a world that isn't always fair.

Bailey is learning how to deal with being let down by a relationship, how hard it is to chase a dream, and learning about getting back up after life knocks you down. My character, ‘Cassidy’ is filled with hurt and anger over the loss of her mom, and she is very vulnerable, but she hides behind an abrasive exterior. The truth is she loves her family deeply and is protective of them, and once Bailey becomes part of her family, she is tenaciously protective of her.

“Country Comfort” looks at how music can bring people together and help people heal. As a musician yourself, what are your thoughts on this?
Music is really a huge part of my life. It’s connected to so many major memories in my life. My mom use to sing “Wake up Little Suzy” to me each morning to wake me for school and I remember driving in the car listening to Coldplay and Goo Goo Dolls with my dad. Music brings back so many beautiful memories and helps me to make new ones. I do think it has the power to heal, and in this story, music was something ‘Cassidy’ and her siblings shared with their mother and was connected to those memories, so being able to make music together again is a way of them reconnecting with that love even though she is gone.

What was it like working on set and filming during the pandemic?
At first it was hard because it was such a change from when we filmed the first four episodes. We all used to love playing music together and just spending time in each other’s dressing rooms. After we got back to filming everything was different, because we all had to stay in our own dressing rooms, and we didn’t get to do school together with our teachers in the trailer. On set, we had to rehearse with our masks on and it was only right before cameras rolled that we took our masks off. Everything was very safe, we were all tested, wore PPE, and a limited number of people were allowed on set. Being back on set was different, but the bonds we had all formed were the same. Eddie especially kept the laughter going, he has such a great sense of humor, and everyone was so glad to be back together and back to work.

While filming in California, you also worked with The North Central Animal Shelter. What did your work with them look like and how did you balance that with filming?
In California I was pretty homesick missing my family and my dogs, so my mom thought maybe if we could foster a small dog it would help me to feel a little less homesick. When we got to the shelter we filled out a foster application but unfortunately they didn’t have any small dogs available. So we were told about a program called Furry Field Trips where you could take a shelter dog out for the day to go hiking or just to spend the day with, giving them a chance to decompress and get a break from the shelter. We ended up taking a 65 pound pitbull named Texas for the day. Well when we went to take him back to the shelter at the end of the day I cried. So when we went on hiatus we ended up fostering Texas and then our hiatus was extended so we kept him longer. While we had him my mom and I fell so in love with him that we couldn’t return him to the shelter. He was a senior dog so we knew his chances for adoption would be more challenging so we started reaching out to rescues and found an amazing one called Love that Dog Hollywood who planned to take him in May when we finished filming. Covid unfortunately happened and when production sent us home in April we needed to find another solution. We ended up finding someone who we paid to drive him to NJ where I live, and where we found him a wonderful forever home. He lives down the street and I get to see him all the time.

We love that you are an animal lover and work with animal organizations, including fostering dogs at home. Can you tell us a bit about how you and your family got started fostering and why it is important to you?
We started fostering after we adopted our dog Zeke almost five years ago. We got him from a rescue and we love him so much, and we realized we wouldn't have if it weren’t for the foster who took care of him before we found him. It really struck me that if he hadn’t had a safe place to go before we found him, we never would have had our Zeke. After that my mom and I started fostering dogs, and now we have fostered eight puppies and two adult dogs over the years. Fostering really does save lives and I think it is something I will do for the rest of my life. Giving these animals time to find a loving home, giving them a place to learn potty-training and how to interact with people and become great pets, is a lifelong goal. I would like to one day have an animal sanctuary for domestic and undomesticated animals. Especially for senior dogs who deserve to live out their lives in happiness and safety.

You and your family are currently fostering pets with Traveling 4 Paws. What made you decide that you wanted to work with this organization?
It is located right in our town so it made it easy location wise. We mainly rescue from down south and focus on helping puppies, mama dogs, and younger dogs who might need some extra socialization and training.

Jejune loves that your dream is to open up your own shelter/sanctuary for animals in the future. Can you tell us a bit more about this? How would it be different from other sanctuaries?
I don’t think I am necessarily looking to open up a specifically unique sanctuary, but just to open another one. If there is a focus, it will probably be to provide homes for pitbulls and older dogs who have been turned in by their owners. Sadly, some of these dogs have developed fears and have been let down by the people who should have loved them, and it truly breaks my heart to hear of animals being surrendered because they are older, have health issues, or just need to learn to trust people again.

How have you been staying positive during shelter in place?
I am lucky enough that I have a large immediate family, and getting all this extra time with my four older siblings has been a blessing. With them home from school and not off to activities, it gave us a chance to spend more family time together than we normally would have had. I also have spent time doing singing lessons and guitar via Zoom and learning candle making and doing a lot of painting.

What is your motto in life?
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try and try again! It was supposedly said by King Robert the Bruce of Scotland, who is my direct ancestor on my mom’s side. I grew up hearing this quote from my mom, who grew up hearing it from her mom. I have been to Scotland and seen our family land and learned the history of my ancestors and I am actually named in the Book of Debrett’s British Peerage. I love learning about my ancestors. My dad is Italian and his grandparents came as immigrants from Italy, and my mom was born in South Africa and came here as a child.

You can keep up with Shiloh Verrico via the below platforms:
Instagram: @shilohlovestosing
imd.me/shilohverrico

Shiloh Verrico: Actress, Singer, and Animal Lover