If it feels like longtime Hallmark fan-favorite Kristoffer Polaha keeps popping up on your TV and social media feeds, there’s good reason: he’s one very busy actor these days. He currently starring in the MGM+ series “American Hostage” with Jon Hamm and Giovanni Ribisi, and his new Hallmark Christmas movie with Tamera Mowry-Housley, “Mistletoe & Mimosas,” premieres on November 15, 2026.
But that’s not all! In between those two big projects, Polaha’s got a surprise movie release on October 8, with the Angel Studios premiere of “The Space Between Us,” co-starring “Two and a Half Men” alum Jennifer Taylor. Polaha told EntertainmentNow it’s “a story about a broken marriage that finds redemption, and it really is the most on-the-nose faith film I’ve ever made.”
Kristoffer Polaha Loves Working on What He Calls ‘Gritty Faith Films’
In between his more mainstream projects, Polaha loves working on what he calls “gritty faith films,” exploring and expressing his Christian values through the lens of realistic, relatable independent films, from 2014’s “Where Hope Grows” to 2023’s “The Shift.”
“They’re faith films, but they’re closer to real life, where it gets messy,” Polaha told EntertainmentNow. “You know, there aren’t true bad guys, and there aren’t true good guys. This film is full-on for the faith audience, and it’s beautiful. I watched it and was really taken aback by how delicately woven the story is.”
Polaha said he looks for faith-based projects that meet people where they are, wherever they’ve been, to let them know “God still loves you and there’s room for redemption.”
“I mean, I just I know in my own life, I’m not perfect and have sinned,” he explained. “And if I didn’t know a loving God who loved me in spite of that, then I would never have been the prodigal son who’d have to come back home. My story is one of wandering in the desert and going out and having to learn and figure things out. I literally went around the world and studied world religions because I wanted to understand. Shintoism. Buddhism. I wasn’t just gonna assume the mantle of my upbringing. I was like, ‘No, if I’m gonna believe in a God, I want to know this God.'”
“And God, man, he met me and I can’t deny it,” Polaha said. “So, for me personally, that conversation is gritty, and it’s real. And I want to reflect that in this work.”
Kristoffer Polaha Says He’s ‘Really Proud’ of How His New Movie Dives Deep Into the Ups & Downs of Marriage
In “The Space Between Us,” Polaha and Taylor play a seemingly perfect married couple rocked by her affair with a young soldier, and inside the journey of seeing whether they can rebuild what they once had.
Polaha, who’s been married to his wife Julianne since 2003, said that after filming “The Space Between Us” in 2025, he helped pull together an in-depth workbook that will become available by early 2027 for those who want to dive deeper into discussions about the movie’s themes.
While navigating the peaks and valleys of a marriage is delicate subject matter to open up about, Polaha told EntertainmentNow he was amazed by how many people who worked on the movie had relatable experiences and insights they were willing to contribute.
“There was someone whose marriage went through a huge trial, and really everybody involved had a story on what it takes to make a marriage work and how you can’t assume things, why you can’t ever take your foot off the gas,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a really healing movie for people. I’m really proud of it.”
“The Space Between Us” is available to stream via Angel Studios.
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Kristoffer Polaha on Marriage, Faith & Forgiveness as His New Movie Premieres (Exclusive)