Heavy/Hallmark Hallmark star Andrew Walker has launched his newest entrepreneurial venture, Skin Mason.
In a storyline that plays out much like the Hallmark movies he stars in, full of chance meetings and twists of fate, actor Andrew Walker has just launched a new company, Skin Mason, that he hopes will revolutionize skincare for men in just two steps.
“It’s something I’ve always struggled with,” Walker told Heavy in late May 2024, ahead of Skin Mason’s official launch, recalling how decades of wearing makeup for movies wreaked havoc on his skin. But the star of over 30 Hallmark films, including June’s “For Love & Honey,” never expected he’d be the one to help find a solution, much less launch his own skincare brand.
However, one night while filming in Vancouver three years ago, a chance meeting with renowned Canadian surgeon Dr. Hussein Kanji set the wheels in motion for an entrepreneurial adventure Walker never expected.
Andrew Walker Says He Was ‘Instantly Interested’ in Doctor’s Skincare Idea
Skin MasonHallmark star Andrew Walker in a promotional image for his new company, Skin Mason
Walker, 45, told Heavy the beginnings of Skin Mason can be traced back to a serendipitous night in 2021 when he met Kanji, an ICU physician and cardiac surgeon at the University of British Columbia Hospital, per LinkedIn.
“Being up in Vancouver so much, I go for dinners a lot by myself,” Walker said, recalling that he had paid his bill and was about to leave the restaurant. “It was a Friday night, I was taking off at 10 o’clock, and this guy walks in with three other buddies and we start getting really friendly. And this guy, he says, ‘Hey, why don’t you have a drink with my friends?'”
Walker agreed and said he wound up conversing with the group for three hours, struck by their “inspiring” backgrounds and outlooks on life. He and Kanji exchanged numbers, he said, and the two of them proceeded to become good friends, getting together for dinner whenever Walker was in town for a shoot.
About 18 months after their first meeting, Walker told Heavy, Kanji took him to dinner while on a business trip to LA, where Walker lives with his family. By that time, Kanji knew about Walker’s entrepreneurial spirit, given that he and his wife, Cassandra, co-founded — and later sold — a bottled juice business called Little West. It was at that dinner that Kanji proposed he and Walker start a company together, telling the actor he had an idea to “simplify skincare for men.”
“I immediately was interested,” Walker told Heavy. “Guys don’t necessarily have the capability to go through a whole skincare routine morning and night, and it’s something that I’ve always struggled with.”
“It’s integrated in my life on a daily basis, especially being an actor where I have to wear
makeup every single day,” he continued. “And I’m always like, at the end of my day, I’m wiping off the guck, and there’s always a residue that’s been left on my face from the makeup.”
Walker said he told Kanji he wished there was a cleansing pad that could wipe away the grime after a long day, as well as something to affordably and easily fight the effects of aging and environmental factors. It’s surreal, Walker said, knowing those two wishes he voiced have now turned into actual products.
Andrew Walker Says Additional Chance Meetings With Key Players Turned Bright Ideas Into a Full-Fledged Brand
Heavy/Skin MasonAndrew Walker, co-founder of new men’s skincare line, Skin Mason
Together, Kanji and Walker worked closely with a medical lab in Canada on the formulation of a two-step skincare system. Their exfoliating cleansing pads feature a trademarked peptide that reduces fine lines, acne and redness and the second step, a 30-second rejuvenating serum, is designed to fight signs of aging, evens skin tone and encourage new collagen production.
Though the duo felt great about the “incredible” results the lab was achieving, Walker told Heavy that he and Kanji were both too busy in their respective careers to run a whole company and had begun to feel overwhelmed.
But, in a series of plot twists akin to a feel-good Hallmark movie, people with the expertise and time needed to make the brand fly miraculously kept showing up in their lives, Walker said. Within minutes of meeting a fellow dad at his kids’ school Halloween party, for instance, the “Curious Caterer” star wound up chatting with the other dad about Skin Mason. The man revealed he was a branding expert and offered to help them fine-tune their marketing.
Meanwhile, Walker told Heavy, Kanji wound up performing life-saving surgery on the husband of Dr. Jean Carruthers, who pioneered the cosmetic use of Botox and has a major influence in the skincare industry, per Forbes. When Kanji gave her samples of their Skin Mason products, she was so impressed by the formula and results that she quickly joined their board of directors.
Around the same time, another former surgical patient, Nick Kanaan, happened to run into Kanji. When they got to talking about their lives, the seasoned sales exec offered to help, too, and has since become Skin Mason’s CEO.
As they introduce Skin Mason to the world, Walker said he’s feeling amazed and grateful — not only by the effectiveness of the Skin Mason products, which he uses daily, but about the way everything has fallen into place to make it happen.
“We knew that there was something special when we met each other,” Walker told Heavy about that first night meeting Kanji. “So, for this purpose, we’ve added the word ‘barakat’ on the back of our bottle, which means ‘blessings’ in Arabic.”
“My life is is absolutely perfect,” Walker told Heavy. “My kids are healthy. My wife and I have an incredible relationship. I have so many good friends around me. My work doesn’t feel like work. It really is truly a blessing.”