It’s a holiday tradition: as Hallmark Channel airs its yearly lineup of new, original Christmas movies, die-hard fans know to keep an eye out for cameos from their favorite Hallmark stars. The 2025 Countdown to Christmas movies did not disappoint, with surprise appearances from multiple fan favorites.
If you didn’t catch them, the movies are all available to stream on Hallmark+ and some are slated to re-air on Hallmark Channel before the holidays are over. Here are a few of our favorites…
Brendan Penny as a Smarmy Anchorman in ‘Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper!’
One of the first (and best!) Christmas movies of the year, “Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper” starring Robert Buckley and Kimberley Sustad, featured a pretty epic cameo from longtime Hallmark star Brendan Penny.
Buckley stars as Ted Cooper, an eternally optimistic TV weatherman who runs into incredible bouts of bad luck every holiday season, and Penny appears throughout the movie as the anchorman back at the studio who smugly jokes throughout the season about all of Ted Cooper’s misfortunes.
Penny also appeared in his own 2025 Christmas movie, “The More the Merrier,” opposite Rachel Boston, but Buckley told EntertainmentNow that Penny was more than happy to spend a day filming their hilarious scenes together. Their hilarious onscreen banter was a highlight!
Tyler Hynes, Hunter King & Andrew Walker in ‘Holiday Touchdown: A Bills Love Story’
HallmarkThere were multiple star cameos in one of the top-rated movies of the year, “Holiday Touchdown: A Bills Love Story.” Ahead of the movie’s premiere, Hallmark revealed that longtime star Andrew Walker would appear briefly as a bartender — a role that he told EntertainmentNow he “begged and groveled” for, given his lifelong fandom for the Bills.
His bartender role was cleverly similar to the bartender Wes Brown played for his cameo in Hallmark’s first NFL-themed movie, 2024’s “Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story,” which starred Hunter King and Tyler Hynes.
HallmarkHynes and King made a surprise cameo in the new movie, too, popping up in a Christmas tree farm. Though they didn’t explicitly say they were playing their former characters — Chiefs superfan Alana Higman and Derrick Taylor, a fan engagement rep for the Chiefs — we’d like to believe their appearance means their characters, who fell in love at the end of the first movie, are going strong and hitting the road together.
It’s worth noting that their surprise scene featured another cameo, as they had a cute interaction with Santa — played by the same actor from their movie, Abraham Benrubi.
Erin Cahill Plays a Tour Guide in ‘A Grand Ole Opry Christmas’
“A Grand Ole Opry Christmas” starring Nikki DeLoach and Kristoffer Polaha featured tons of heavily-promoted cameos from country stars, including Brad Paisley, Mickey Guyton, Megan Moroney, and Pam Tillis.
But there was a surprise cameo, too, when “Christmas at the Catnip Cafe” star Erin Cahill popped up early in the movie, playing an adorable tour guide named Annie at the legendary Nashville venue. This was Cahill’s second consecutive Christmas movie cameo; in 2024, she flew to Iceland for a surprise appearance in Polaha and Lacey Chabert’s “The Christmas Quest.”
Kimberley Sustad Nailed 2 Hallmark Channel Cameos in 2025
“Three Wisest Men” starring Hynes, Walker, and Paul Campbell would not have been complete without a cameo from Kimberley Sustad, who not only co-wrote the “Three Wise Men” trilogy with Campbell and Russell Hainline, but briefly appears in each movie as a doctor at the local hospital. Fans fully expected to see Sustad in the third movie, and she delivered.
But Sustad also thrilled fans with a second cameo in “Christmas at the Catnip Cafe” starring Campbell and Cahill. In a cute callback to her two feline-focused Hallmark movies with co-star Brandon Routh — “The Nine Lives of Christmas” and “The Nine Kittens of Christmas” — Sustad appeared as a customer at the cafe, cutely talking cats with Campbell’s character, a vet who co-owns the cafe. Purrrfectly done.
Jonathan Bennett Pops Up in Hallmark Channel’s ‘A Make or Break Holiday’
HallmarkLike a proud papa, Jonathan Bennett popped up in a “A Make or Break Holiday,” featuring the season two winner of his unscripted reality competition, “Finding Mr. Christmas.” As his prize, Craig Geoghan filmed his first leading role in a Hallmark Channel movie, playing Hunter King’s brother.
Bennett burst into a scene as a wedding venue operator trying to control the crowd, even managing to squeeze in a couple of funny, veiled references to “Finding Mr. Christmas.” The longtime Hallmark star also had a cameo in “Happy Howlidays,” the 2024 movie that featured season one’s winner, Ezra Moreland.
‘When Calls The Heart’ Stars Showed Up for Ben Rosenbaum’s 1st Leading Role
HallmarkWhen “When Calls The Heart” star Ben Rosenbaum agreed to his first starring role in a Hallmark rom-com, “The Christmas Cup,” he told EntertainmentNow he didn’t know some of his series co-stars would be showing up for small parts (and to cheer him on from the sidelines), including Pascale Hutton, Natasha Burnett, and Jaeda Lily Miller. He said they later surprised him with the news!
Andrea Brooks, meanwhile, got roped into appearing when she was in town for a wedding and reached out to see if Rosenbaum wanted to grab coffee. Too busy filming, he encouraged her to come by the Vancouver set and she was promptly given a small role in the movie, too.
