Hallmark actors? It’s almost a lifetime deal

Some actors may grow up dreaming of Broadway or Hollywood or film-festival fame.
Not as many, perhaps, dream of Hallmark Channel movies. “I had no idea that Hallmark was more than a greeting-card store,” Andrew Walker (shown here with Rachel Boston) said.
But when they do start landing Hallmark roles, it can transform their careers. Just ask Niall Matter.
“It was at a time in my life when I had actually lost everything,” Matter told the Television Critics Association. “I was driving for Lyft because I couldn’t drive for Uber, because of my driving record.”
He’d done some Canadian films, especially sci-fi ones, but things went cold and he was doing ride-share. “I was actually taking an actor to the airport,” when the call came. “I dropped him off, I call my manager back, and then I found out I had an offer for a movie called ‘Stop the Wedding.'”
Many more have followed. “It’s been a 10-year run,” he said.
Walker tops that. “I first started working for them 14 years ago,” he said.
And Lacey Chabert tops both. “The first movie I did with Hallmark Channel was called ‘Elevator Girl,’ (16) years ago. And it was such a joyful project.”
Those actors represent Hallmark’s favorite talent pools:
— Former stars of network series. Chabert was from “Party of Five”; others — mostly female and cute — include Boston, Candace Cameron Bure, Danica McKellar, Kellie Martin, Holly Robinson Peete, Ashley Williams, Alison Sweeney and more.
— And Canadians. That includes Walker, Matter and others, mostly guys who are sturdy and pleasant.
Why so many? “Canadian boys are really good kissers,” Williams, an actress and producer, “which has been really helpful in the production process.”
(She was joking, perhaps, but Sweeney, another actress-producer, promptly agreed.)
Those guys are also geographically convenient: Hallmark makes most of its films in Canada, for various reasons. “It doesn’t hurt that we have great tax credits up there,” Walker said. Also, “the exchange rates stretch your dollar.”
Peete began working in Canada (for Fox’s “21 Jump Street”) 40 years ago. “The crews were amazing,” she said. “The actor talent was ripe.”
And maybe those actors fit the sturdy-pleasant image Hallmark is so fond of. Michelle Vicary, the network programming chief, quotes Tyler Hynes, who grew up on a Canadian ranch: “He said to me, ‘You know, Michelle, sincerity is becoming cool.'”
Also, those Canadian guys might be more cost-efficient. When he started doing Hallmark films, Walker said, “paychecks were frugal.”
He stuck with it, through five “Curious Caterer” films, three “Three Wise Men and a Baby” ones and many more. Along the way, he found he was part of something bigger.
“Eight years ago at ‘Christmas Con,’ I showed up and there were 20,000 people over three days that were coming to see us,” Walker said. “And it was the stories of how people found the network, what it meant for them.”
Being a Hallmark actor seems to provide fairly steady employment … and, occasionally, interesting locations.
Hynes (also a “Three Wise Men” star) has done “Holiday Touchdown” films in Kansas City and Buffalo. For the “Groomsmen” trilogy, he was in Greece, Italy and Bulgaria.
Chabert has also had occasional variety. She’s done Christmas films in Rome and Scotland; coming (Nov. 28) is one filmed at Disney World. Her current mini-series — “Paris Is Always a Good Idea,” streaming on Hallmark+ for six Thursdays through Aug. 27 — was filmed in Italy, Spain and, of course, Paris.
“We did a walk-and-talk outside the Arc de Triomph,” she said, “and it was impossible not to look back and just stare. When we were on the Eiffel Tower, (seeming in awe) was not me acting. It was totally sincere.”
Scott Michael Foster, her co-star, is from Illinois and this was only his third Hallmark project; he took full advantage of some free time.
“I went to the south of France, rented a car, drove around the Riviera,” Foster said. “I went to Barcelona; I went to Prague, Vienna and Budapest.”
And recently — Aug. 1, four days before the channel’s 25th birthday — his real-life wedding was in an English castle. Think of it as the ultimate Hallmark experience.