What qualities combine to make the perfect Hallmark Channel heartthrob?
Certainly it’s a mixture of looks, attitude and charm, but there’s got to be more than that. So what, exactly, is the secret sauce that makes viewers swoon over their favorite Hallmark hunks?
People posed that question to two people who know the ins and outs of Hallmark as well as anyone: fan-favorite actors Jonathan Bennett and Benjamin Ayres.
Let the Audience Connect
Bennett has been part of the Hallmark family since 2010, while Ayres filmed his first Hallmark project in 2016. That, the magazine declared, gives them unique insight into the key traits required to excel as a leading man in a Hallmark movie.
Ayes pointed to one primary factor. “Vulnerability,” Ayres said. “I find that it can be easy to be charming and funny, but if you can find the moments to be vulnerable, that’s when your audience really can connect with you. But also, I find I personally can drop into the world a bit easier if I can find that within the character.”
Keeping It Real
Bennett had a somewhat different take. As an openly gay actor — Bennett publicly came out in 2017 — he’s had the opportunity to be a leading man in films featuring both opposite- and same-sex romances.
He revealed the key trait that’s always worked for him. “For me, It’s authenticity to who I am as an actor and who I am as a person,” Bennett explained.
“When those things connect, I think that makes the perfect recipe for a leading man,” he continued. “Getting to play a leading man on Hallmark, and the leading man in those roles is gay, is such a huge deal because it shows that you can have straight men be leading men, and you can have gay men be leading men.”
Added Bennett: “They can play straight, they can play gay. There’s so many different ways that you can be a leading man.”
A Hallmark Trailblazer
As Bennett pointed out, his coming out opened the door for Hallmark Channel to produce movies featuring same-sex couples.
Bennett first played a gay character for Hallmark in “The Groomsmen” trilogy, Hallmark history when his character got married in “The Groomsmen: Second Chances” — Hallmark’s first-ever gay wedding.
“It was just such a huge deal because it was the first ever same-sex wedding on Hallmark Channel, and so it was a huge deal for not just me but so many people watching to see a love that looked like theirs on the network that tells love stories,” Bennett told People.
“It was really special,” he added. “Hallmark Channel’s for everyone, just like love is for everyone.”
The First Gay Leading Man
While Bennett’s role in “The Groomsmen” trilogy was a supporting one, he made further Hallmark history when he starred as Hallmark’s first gay leading man in 2022’s “The Holiday Sitter.”
“What’s so powerful about what Hallmark Channel is doing is it’s telling stories about the holidays that are for everybody — because the holidays are for everyone — and creating a space that’s safe where people feel seen,” Bennett said in an interview with Them while promoting the movie.
“I’m just so proud to be part of of a place that is doing inclusive programming because it’s so important as a gay man myself, to see what my love looks like onscreen next to everybody else,” he added. “I’m just so proud to stand with Hallmark, and make inclusive programming because it’s fun to stand on the right side of history.”
