10 Queer Actors That Played Straight Hallmark Holiday Hunks

The Hallmark channel has made a business out of providing programming built around harmless drama and very few stakes when it comes to plotlines. The network has also become known for its yearly holiday-themed television movies. Their programming slate has become so filled with holiday fare that the network launched "Christmas in July" in recent years, placing holiday content on the network outside the Christmas season. With so many holiday productions, the network has not been shy about casting queer actors as romantic leads. This week's festive listicle highlights some of Hallmark's notable holiday films with leading men that were played by queer actors. Leave a comment below if we missed any of your favorites. Warning: Spoilers Ahead! 

 

Colton Little
A Biltmore Christmas (2023)
This time-bending holiday romance revolves around Lucy (Bethany Joy Lenz), a young woman hired to write a script remaking a classic holiday movie. When she finds herself transported back in time to the original film's events in 1946, she sets off a chain reaction that threatens to alter the future forever, if she doesn't make things right. While she falls in love along the way with one of the film's classic stars Jack Huston (Kristoffer Polaha), it's out actor Colton Little that plays the secondary romantic lead, matinee idol Claude Lancaster who romances the fictional Ava Hayward (Annabelle Borke), as both star alongside Huston in the film-within-a-film His Merry Wife! Outside of Hallmark, Little played the straight romantic lead in A Wedding for Christmas and My Best Friend's Christmas.

 

Christian Vincent
A Majestic Christmas (2018)
Out actor and dancer Christian Vincent has taken on very few straight roles in his career. However, the acclaimed choreographer and Noah's Arc alum played Connor in Hallmark's A Majestic Christmas. The film finds architect Nell (Jerrika Hinton) returning to her hometown to renovate the town's historic theater. She is immediately in conflict as she shares her neighbors' fears of modernizing the town landmark, now owned by Connor. She gives him a crash course in the local Christmas festivities in the hopes of warming his heart and preventing his plans to modernize the Majestic Playhouse. Of course, this leads to romance. Vincent also appeared in a supporting role in the Lifetime holiday movie A Christmas Dance Reunion. Off-screen, Vincent shares a daughter with his husband.

 

Matt Dallas
Naughty or Nice (2011)
Prior to his coming out, Matt Dallas starred in the Hallmark Christmas comedy Naughty or Nice. The film follows Krissy Kringle (Hilarie Burton), a holiday scrooge who accidentally receives Santa's naughty or nice book. She uses the book to expose the bad deeds of those around her, until she learns a Christmas lesson. The book leads her to believe that her boyfriend may be cheating on her. Dallas played the boyfriend, Lance Leigh, whose actual story turns out to not be so naughty after all. The film ends with Krissy & Lance headed toward a wedding. In addition to Dallas, the film also cast veteran actress Meredith Baxter as Krissy's mother Carol, reuniting her with her Family Ties husband Michael Gross who played Krissy's father. Baxter came out as a lesbian in 2009.

 

Rafael de la Fuente
Letters to Santa (2023)
The family film Letters to Santa capitalizes on the cuteness of children and animals for the story of two young siblings who use a magic pen from Santa that appears to grant their holiday wishes. With their greatest wish being to get their estranged parents back together, things turn chaotic just in time for Christmas. Out actor Rafael de la Fuente was cast in the role of patriarch Enrique, who finds himself drawn back to his estranged wife Rebecca (Katie Leclerc) after interference from their children and his mother Camilla (Laura Cerón). This was Rafael's first and, so far, only Christmas movie and it was a rare Hallmark plot that followed an already-married couple. Off-screen, Rafael has been seen most recently romancing singer and social media personality John Duff.

 

Julian Morris
A Royal Queens Christmas (2021)
The trope of royal romance has always been a Hallmark Christmas staple. A Royal Queens Christmas found Prince Colin (Julian Morris) visiting New York where he has a chance encounter with café worker Dee Dee (Megan Park), who recruits him to play piano for a children's choir that she's leading. Dee Dee is unaware of Colin's royal background and sparks fly between the two has they take part in the holiday concert and the charity. Discovery of Colin's true identity and a potential arranged marriage provide the film's conflict, though as usual, the lovebirds choose love with one another by the end. Ironically, 2021 proved to be a landmark year for the gay Morris, who celebrated his marriage to his partner Landon Ross, the same year this film debuted on Hallmark.

 

Kyle Dean Massey
A Merry Christmas Match (2019)
Out actor Kyle Dean Massey is best known for his work on Broadway and in the series Nashville but in 2019 he took on the role of Ryder Donnelly, the romantic lead in Hallmark's A Merry Christmas Match. Los Angeles hunk Ryder pays a visit to the small town ski village of Harmony where sparks fly with antique shop clerk Corey (Ashley Newbrough), causing her to question whether her choice to stay in her small town to help continue her deceased father's legacy was a good idea as romance with Ryder tempts her to leave it all behind in the name of love. Just a few years later, Kyle would join his husband Taylor Frey as the leads in the gay-themed holiday film A Christmas to Treasure. The couple also played exes in the 2024 queer holiday film The Holiday Exchange.

 

Chad Connell
A Cheerful Christmas (2019)
After a few supporting roles in the holiday TV movies Christmas at Grand Valley, A Christmas for the Books and Double Holiday, Chad Connell was promoted to male lead for A Cheerful Christmas. The film found holiday coordinator Lauren (Erica Deutschman) hired by the wealthy Anderson family to make their Christmas a magical event. She quickly bonds with their son James (Connell). Though he feels uncomfortable at first with her persistent cheer, his heart warms as she rekindles his childhood love of Christmas. Not even a love triangle with his old childhood friend Maryam (Samantha Madely) could prevent their holiday romance. The following year, the out actor would play straight again in Lifetime's The Christmas Setup, the first on that network to chronicle the romance between two male leads.

 

Jonathan Bennett
Christmas Made to Order (2018)
Jonathan Bennett has become Hallmark's go-to actor for queer content on the network in recent years. However, before he led the way with Hallmark's gay holiday offerings, he played it straight in Christmas Made to Order. Bennett played Steven, a busy architect who finds himself hosting his family for Christmas. Feeling out of his element, he hires holiday coordinator Gretchen (Alexa PenaVega) to help with his festive needs. This ultimately leads to love between the two. Since then, Jonathan has starred in five queer-inclusive Hallmark Christmas films: The Christmas House, The Christmas House 2: Deck Those Halls, The Holiday Sitter, Christmas on Cherry Lane, and the Cherry Lane sequel, Season's Greetings from Cherry Lane, which premiered earlier this month.

 

Peter Porte
A Christmas to Cherish (2019)/Christmas Harmony (2018)/A Gift for Christmas (2017)
After playing the straight romantic lead in A Cinderella Christmas, Peter Porte moved over to Hallmark where he starred in a trio of holiday movies. For Christmas Harmony, he played Devin, a music star who dumps his girlfriend, leading lady Harmony (Kelley Jakle) just before the holidays, leading her back home where she strikes up a romance with local hero Luke (Adam Mayfield). His role as Aiden Harris in A Gift for Christmas was the complete opposite. After a bike accident crashes Aiden into leading lady Darcy (Ali Liebert), Aiden is left with amnesia and a new love interest. Darcy takes care of his dog and tries to help him piece together his memory, leading to love in time for Christmas. The duo returned for the sequel, A Christmas to Cherish, looking for much less holiday drama two years later.  

 

Luke Macfarlane
Catch Me If You Claus (2023)/A Magical Christmas Village (2022)/Christmas in My Heart (2021)/Chateau Christmas (2020)/Sense, Sensibility & Snowmen (2019)/A Shoe Addict's Christmas (2018)/Maggie's Christmas Miracle (2017)/The Mistletoe Promise (2016)/Christmas Land (2015)
Out actor Luke Macfarlane has been a Hallmark network all-star over the years. When it comes to their holiday offerings, he's been a network staple, having played the straight romantic lead in nine different Christmas-themed movies. Macfarlane's holiday resume has included roles as a charming lawyer, a hunky firefighter, a private tutor, a toy company C.E.O., a good samaritan divorcee, a reclusive country music star, and even Santa's son. In 2021, Macfarlane finally took on a gay role in a Christmas movie, as he appeared in a love triangle in Single All the Way on Netflix. Macfarlane's nine-year streak of starring in one Hallmark holiday movie a year appears to be breaking this year, as there is currently no Christmas movie starring Macfarlane announced for 2024.