Credit: Courtesy of Everett Collection/HallmarkMeet The LGBTQ+ Actors Making Hallmark’s Romance Films More Inclusive
In recent years, The Hallmark Channel has committed to increasing LGBTQ+ representation in its films and TV shows, including casting queer actors in lead roles and showcasing diverse love stories. Here are 12 LGBTQ+ Hallmark actors paving the way for inclusivity on the network.
From Jonathan Bennett’s Christmas movies to Jake Foy’s openly gay character in Ride, Hallmark is highlighting more LGBTQ+ characters and inclusive storylines. Bennett starred and produced The Christmas House, Hallmark’s first movie to include a gay couple. The Mean Girls actor also starred opposite George Krissa in The Holiday Sitter, the first Hallmark film that centers on a gay couple. The Hallmark Channel made history again in 2022 when the network cast Donia Kash as the first openly nonbinary actor to star in a Hallmark film.
During 2023’s Countdown to Christmas beloved special, the network released its first-ever holiday movie to feature a lesbian couple, Friends & Family Christmas, featuring Ali Liebert and Humberly González. The film follows Daniella, an aspiring artist who recently moved to New York and decides to spend the holidays with her creative friends instead of her overbearing parents. When her family sets her up with Amelia, an entertainment lawyer recovering from a broken engagement, they agree to pretend they’re dating for the holidays, only to find that their feelings for each other are anything but fake.
To celebrate The Hallmark Channel’s commitment to featuring LGBTQ+ characters and love stories, here are 12 LGBTQ+ Hallmark actors who should be on your radar.
Jonathan Bennett
Declared as the “gay king of Christmas,” Bennett has been involved in some of the Hallmark Channel’s biggest LGBTQ+ moments so far. He starred in the network’s first holiday film to feature an LGBTQ+ storyline, The Christmas House, and the first queer-led Christmas film, The Holiday Sitter. He also appeared in 2023’s Christmas on Cherry Lane, which features three couples at different stages of their lives celebrating the holiday.
“I think Hallmark’s mission is making sure that everyone feels like they have a seat at our holiday table because they do,” Bennett told GLAAD while promoting Christmas on Cherry Lane. Bennett is married to actor Jaymes Vaughan. The pair tied the knot in March 2022.
Luke Macfarlane
Canadian actor Luke Macfarlane has appeared in a variety of Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries films, including Catch Me if You Claus, CrimeTime: Freefall, A Magical Christmas Village, and more. In 2023’s Notes of Autumn, he played a queer character named Leo, a successful author who is experiencing writer’s block and eventually meets Matt, who helps Leo write something new and inspiring.
The Bros actor is in a relationship with alpine skier Hig Roberts, and they recently welcomed a daughter, Eleanor Macfarlane, in June 2023. “Tess Eleanor Macfarlane— Born June 4th 2023. We started life with some hectic days and received world class care. On Father’s Day we got to take her home. Her Dads can’t wait to introduce her to all the remarkable people and the beautiful world we live in,” he captioned his daughter’s birth announcement on Instagram.
Jake Foy
Canadian star Jake Foy’s character Tuff McMurray became Hallmark Channel’s first gay cowboy on the TV series Ride. “Particularly on this show, it’s nice to reflect an openly gay young man who also has family values, because we exist as well,” Foy told Wide Open Country in June 2023. “It’s nice to come to the table of the representation conversation from a different perspective — and one that I happen to think is particularly progressive, all things considered.”
In May 2023, Foy announced his engagement to longtime boyfriend Nicolas La Traverse. “May 8, 2023 💍💍Ain’t we got fun…?! 💌🎶” Foy wrote on Instagram alongside photos taken from their engagement at Canada’s Banff National Park.
Ali Liebert
Ali Liebert has directed and acted in projects for Hallmark. She directed the first gay Christmas movie, The Holiday Sitter, and starred in Hallmark’s first lesbian holiday film, Friends and Family Christmas, which premiered on December 17, 2023.
“I’ve been wanting — and I’ve been stating it on Twitter for at least five years — waiting for the moment when there was a holiday movie for the lesbians. And I was praying that Hallmark would put me in it,” she told News Is Out. “For me, it’s been a really nice bow tie to my wish. Because I think that we deserve to be represented in all types of media, including holiday movies.”
Donia Kash
Donia Kash made history as the first openly nonbinary actor to star in a Hallmark film. They portrayed Suzette in 2022’s The Secrets Of Bella Vista. “The opportunity to play Suzette in The Secrets of Bella Vista taught my hard shell of a heart that I am moving through this particular world that easily expresses love and the importance of family on the screen,” they said to Diva Magazine. “To allow the queer community see themselves thriving out there in this world.”
Kash is reportedly in a relationship with Hallmark star and director Ali Liebert. The couple recently rescued a dog together in April. “Currently over here obsessed with our boy Sabzi 🐕,” Liebert posted on Instagram, which included photos of Kash holding their new pup. The hashtag #SabziJoonKashLiebert features both of their last names together.
Brad Harder
Brad Harder starred opposite Bennett in The Christmas House and The Christmas House 2: Deck Those Halls, where they played the first married gay couple on the Hallmark network. He also held a recurring role in Hallmark Movies and Mysteries’ Aurora Teagarden Mysteries series.
In real life, Harder is the father of two children, a son and a daughter, whom he shares with his husband Graham Arychuk. The actor frequently shares photos of his beautiful family on Instagram, including this photo with Santa and enjoying a fun day at the beach.
George Krissa
George Krissa made his Hallmark Channel debut in 2022’s Road Trip Romance before appearing in The Holiday Sitter, the first Hallmark film to center on a same-sex couple. “If you watch the Countdown to Christmas this year, there’s LGBTQ folks all over the place,” Krissa told CBC. “I would have loved to see this as a kid, to see everyone’s accepted and that their families love them. And it’s really, really special to be part of it.”
The actor lives in Toronto with his partner, Brian, and their dog, Bixby. In October 2023, Krissa posted an appreciation post for Brian. “This is a @briwaters appreciation moment! He’s funny, he’s smart, he’s gorgeous and for some reason he puts up with me. I love him and I’m lucky.. that’s all,” he wrote in the Instagram caption.
Vic Michaelis
Vic Michaelis made their Hallmark Channel entrance in the 2023 Hanukkah film Round and Round. Michaelis plays Rachel Landau, a book editor who gets caught in a time loop, reliving the seventh night of Hanukkah over and over again. The Canadian-raised actor also starred in Season 2 of Amazon Prime’s Upload.
According to their Hallmark bio, Michaelis is a massive supporter of LGBTQIA2S+ aid organizations and loves to connect people with Trans Life Line, which provides both material and emotional support to trans youth and adults not just to survive but to live full and happy lives.
Peter Porte
You might recognize Peter Porte from his soap opera days as Ricky Williams on The Young and the Restless and Dimitri von Leuschner on Days of Our Lives. The openly gay actor has starred in many Hallmark Channel movies, including Love, Once and Always, A Gift to Remember, Love at the Shore, Rome in Love, Cherished Memories: A Gift to Remember 2, and Notes of Autumn opposite Luke Macfarlane.
In 2018, Porte married his partner, Jacob Jules Villere, in New Orleans. The ceremony was held at Latrobe’s on Royal, an architecturally significant building located in the French Quarter.
Humberly González
Humberly González’s first Hallmark film was 2022’s A Tail of Love. Then, she starred opposite Ali Liebert in Friends & Family Christmas, the first Hallmark Christmas movie centered on a lesbian couple. The 32-year-old actress’s characters in Utopia Falls, Ginny & Georgia, and Jupiter’s Legacy were also all queer.
In an interview with Remezcla in May 2024, González said that “it means a lot to play characters that resonate with audiences and they see themselves mirrored back to themselves.” She continued, “I definitely needed that when I was growing up, so it’s an opportunity for me to show up and do that for the community.”
Kyle Dean Massey
Kyle Dean Massey started on Broadway before making his Hallmark Channel debut in A Merry Christmas Match in 2019. He is married to actor Taylor Frey, and in October 2021, the couple welcomed (via surrogate) daughter Rafa Massey-Frey. The pair starred opposite each other in Lifetime’s A Christmas to Treasure.
“We’ve been together for over 10 years and married for six,” Massey told Media Village about their Lifetime flick. “We’re so comfortable around each other, and our lives are so intertwined at this point. These two characters are coming together after not seeing each other for 15 years, so finding those initial sparks again was something we certainly had to think about — just recreating that initial magic of first falling in love with somebody.”
Juan Pablo Di Pace
Fuller House actor Juan Pablo di Pace publicly announced that he was gay during a TEDx Talk in March 2019. “I came out 20 years ago,” the Argentinian actor told Entertainment Tonight in June 2019, adding “The people that matter in my life knew a long time ago.” The actor has appeared in several Hallmark Channel titles, including Raise a Glass to Love in 2022 and Branching Out in 2024.
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