After a year-long break from acting, Ryan Paevey is back and ready to take on new roles — but there’s a catch. The longtime Hallmark star says his goal is for the roles he accepts to supplement his “dream life” of surfing, traveling, and adventuring.
Paevey surprised fans by returning to “General Hospital” in August 2025 for an upcoming story arc on the soap where he got his start. On September 1, Paevey asked his Instagram followers for their ideas on the kinds of roles he should begin “manifesting” now that he’s back in the mix.
“No dream role, just a dream life,” he captioned his video, adding, “Butttt, if you could pick a dream role for me, what would it be 👀👇🏼”
Ryan Paevey Says He’s ‘Worked Really Hard’ & Wants to Attract Roles That Bring Him Joy
HallmarkIn the video Paevey shared, he replied to a question about what his “dream role” would be, as clips of him surfing were interspersed.
“My dream role is to be independently wealthy,” Paevey quipped, “and travel the world and surf all the time. How do we make that happen? We making that happen right now? Could that be a thing? That should be a thing.”
“I’ve worked really hard,” he continued. “I’m tired. Let’s go surfing. I don’t know, man, I don’t have a dream film and television role, honestly. I would love to do something adventurous, on a set or off a set. Can we manifest more adventure? Let’s do that.”
Ryan Paevey Liked Many of His Fans Ideas for New Roles
Fans flooded Paevey’s post with ideas, and he was receptive to many of them. When someone suggested, “A remake of the BEST surf film, The Endless Summer 🔥,” Paevey said of the 1966 classic, “working on something along those lines. ; )”
Multiple people suggested he host a travel show, which Paevey said sounded “great.” Others imagined roles — preferably in Hallmark movies, many noted — that would allow him to travel and explore, including someone who wrote, “A movie role with you surfing, rock climbing and other adventures. Where you do your own stunts. 😜”
Paevey responded, “I always try to do my own stunts especially if it’s surfing 😏”
In 2022, Paevey did his own surfing stunts in Hallmark’s “Two Tickets to Paradise” with Ashley Williams, filmed in Hawaii. That’s exactly the kind of movie he’d love to do more of.
In July, while appearing at Christmas in a Small Town, Paevey told attendees, “Selfishly, I wouldn’t mind seeing Ashley Williams again in Hawaii … maybe we do a part two or something like that.”
Dozens of people liked a fan comment on Paevey’s latest post that said, “Since u got to surf in a hallmark movie already maybe the next hallmark movie u can ride a motorcycle but in another country maybe somewhere in Europe 😊🙌”
Paevey replied, “wait.. that’s a good one,” and then added, “I’m all about that manifesting these days, haha. Who doesn’t wanna adventure more? 😅😬”
Ryan Paevey Was Dreaming of Adventure Roles Even Before He Stepped Away From Acting
GettyIn June 2024, Paevey issued a statement via EntertainmentNow to announce that he was taking a step back from acting, disillusioned by the industry, frustrated by social media imposters, and needing to care for his ailing mom.
But long before that, he was already dreaming of roles that would take him to far away destinations. In 2022, he told Culturess he was game for filming “any place tropical” noting that Hallmark was starting to do more destination movies.
He told the outlet, “I think they went to Fiji and as an aside, selfishly, I’d love to sneak some surfing while I go to a place like that. I saw them go to Africa for ‘Love on Safari’ and the African continent is still a continent I have never set foot on. So I would love to do those things. And I guess those are all kind of selfish motivations.”
“But you know, with enough discussion and collaboration with the story writer,” he continued, “I’m sure that we could find stories that are set in those places that make sense where we also all get to scratch our travel itch a little bit, shall we say, and go to these places.”
Hallmark has not announced any plans with Paevey his recent decision to return to acting, but many of his fans are hoping that they’ll bring him back into the fold — and then send him out on a great adventure.
