Kristoffer Polaha’s had a very busy 2026, filming one project after another, but this week might take the cake. On August 17, the beloved actor started filming his new Hallmark Christmas movie opposite fan-favorite Tamera Mowry-Housley — a pairing he’s particularly excited about.
But that’s not all! Polaha, who will co-star in the MGM+ series “American Hostage” in September, is also pumped about the Tubi premiere of his unique horror rom-com (and directorial debut) “Mimics” on August 18 and the chance to make a difference on August 19, World Humanitarian Day. Polaha gave EntertainmentNow a look inside his busy week and why he’s so pumped about it all…
Kristoffer Polaha Says Being Paired With Tamera Mowry-Housley in New Hallmark Movie is ‘Kismet’
GettyFresh off filming two back-to-back “Buried in Bristow” movies for Lifetime co-starring Angie Harmon, Polaha is shifting gears into holiday mode. He and Mowry-Housley will spend the next three weeks filming “Mistletoe and Mimosas,” which will premiere during Hallmark’s 17th annual Countdown to Christmas later this year.
The duo has never worked together, but met during Hallmark’s Jingle Stop Tour in the fall of 2024, when a bunch of Hallmark stars spent a day traveling from Washington, DC to New York, meeting fans along the way. Polaha told EntertainmentNow he and Mowry-Housley “really hit it off” during that event.
“She is someone who is on my short list of actresses that I really wanted to work with,” he shared. “I was just about to reach out to the casting director at Hallmark in June with her name (as a possible co-star) when this offer came in, so it was kismet!”
Speaking of having a busy year, “Mistletoe and Mimosas” will be Mowry-Housley’s fourth Hallmark movie of 2026 (the next one is “Haunted Harmony Mysteries: Prelude to a Wedding” on September 5, followed by a cameo in “Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story” on October 17), and she’s also serving as an executive producer on this one.
The “Mistletoe and Mimosas” script is from screenwriter Russell Hainline, known for his clever and comedic Hallmark hits including 2025’s “Three Wisest Men” and “Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper!” According to Hallmark’s synopsis, Mowry-Housley plays Claire Bennett, “a successful business consultant in Manhattan who unexpectedly inherits her beloved Uncle Lou’s Christmas-themed bar, The Tipsy Reindeer, in upstate New York.”
Polaha’s character, Zach, enters the picture because his company wants to buy the business, but they agree to “face off in a 12 Days of Christmas-inspired series of festive events to see who can bring in the most business” to decide the bar’s fate.
Next Up, Kristoffer Polaha’s ‘Mimics’ Finds a New Home
Panoramic PicturesPolaha is also excited about the fact his 2025 directorial debut, “Mimics,” will begin streaming on Tubi on August 18. The feature film premiered at 400 theaters across the U.S. in February, and later became available to rent or buy via Prime Video. But being available for free via Tubi is a whole new ballgame, he said.
“I am so pumped that ‘Mimics’ is now available on Tubi because now people can finally see it,” he told EntertainmentNow, before teasing, “even though ‘it’s the movie they don’t want you to see.'”
Fans will get to see a totally different side of Polaha in the romantic thriller, in which he plays “down-on-his-luck impressionist” Sam Reinhold, per the synopsis. Hoping for a quick ticket to fame, Sam makes a pact with a “wicked, strings-attached puppet” named Fergus, which spirals into a nightmare scenario that endangers everything and everyone he loves.
Polaha had dreamed of making his own independent film since 1994, he told EntertainmentNow, but it took yearse to find the right script, the right cast and crew, perfect timing for the shoot, and enough funding to bring that dream to life. Now that it’s complete and out in the world — with familiar faces in the cast including Stephen Toblowsky, Jesse Hutch, and “SNL” alum Chris Parnell — Polaha’s excited more people will have access via Tubi.
Kristoffer Polaha is Also Commemorating World Humanitarian Day With World Vision
On top of filming a new Christmas movie and releasing “Mimics” on Tubi, Polaha is also marking World Humanitarian Day on August 19 by helping to raise money for an organization close to his heart, World Vision.
The day was established by the UN General Assembly to “honor humanitarian workers who risk their lives in crisis zones,” according to World Vision, a Christian organization working to end poverty worldwide. For several years, Polaha has teamed with them to raise money by providing one of his “Further Together” waxed string bracelets, made by female artisans in India, to anyone who makes a donation of $50 or more.
Polaha told EntertainmentNow that Meghan Markle, his co-star in the 2016 Hallmark movie “Dater’s Handbook,” first told him know about World Vision, just before she fell in love with Prince Harry.
Polaha recalled, “She had some photographs of her in Africa and I was like, ‘Well, that’s cool. How’d you do that?’ And she said, ‘Well, WorldVision sent me and it was amazing, it changed my life.'”
When the organization reached out to him several years later about becoming a celebrity ambassador, he immediately recognized it as the group Markle had told him about. He said, “It was one of those weird coincidences. That specific moment in my life was like a Godwink.”
