Hallmark Star Questions Casting Practices: ‘Why Did You Put Me With This Person?’

In the four years since actress Tamera Mowry-Housley began filming original movies with the Hallmark Channel, she’s been paired with a variety of co-stars — from Paul Campbell in 2019’s “The Santa Stakeout” to Brooks Darnell in 2021’s “A Christmas Miracle.” In a new podcast interview, she revealed some aspects of working for Hallmark that she’s found surprising, including how and why producers match her up with certain actors, saying she intends to ask Hallmark about it on her next project.

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Tamera Mowry-Housley Wants to Know Why She Gets Paired With Certain Co-Stars

Mowry-Housley has been a working actor for three decades, as well as a producer, talk show host, and reality star. In 2020, she signed a deal with Hallmark to star in and executive produce movies for the network, so she’s become familiar with Hallmark’s process, storylines and fans.

But during the December 16, 2022, episode of the Hallmark Happenings podcast, she said she’s realized she doesn’t know the reason she gets paired with certain co-stars from within the Hallmark talent pool — and now she’s curious enough to ask Hallmark execs about it.

“They use a lot of the same actors,” she said. “So now I’m like, ‘Who are they going to put me with?’ Like, who am I going to be paired with…you know, on a film, who’s gonna be my male lead or who’s going to be my female lead? Like, who do I get?”

On past movies, she said she’s just agreed to whomever they’ve paired her with, but that she’s begun to wonder why and how Hallmark selects her co-stars. 

“You know, I was just like, ‘Okay, cool, cool. Nice. Yes. Awesome. We’ll do it.’ And then I’m like, ‘Wait a minute. Why did you put me with this person? Why did you put like…what do you see? What do you…want to accomplish with this?'”

When podcast host Betsie asked if their casting process is as simple as pulling a name out of a hat, Mowry-Housley said she assumes it’s more nuanced than that, and that pairing her with Ronnie Rowe Jr. for her latest movie, November’s “Inventing the Christmas Prince,” seemed to work.

“I’m sure it’s not just pulling out of a hat,” she said. “This is my assumption. I feel like maybe they look at the acting style. Also look at what they want from the characters, you know, that are in the film. And they take that risk, you know. But everyone loved Ronnie Rowe, Jr. and I together in ‘Inventing the Christmas Prince.'”

Mowry-Housley said she’s excited about the fact every Hallmark movie plot no longer just has two co-stars, since films like the original “Wedding Veil” trilogy and “Three Wise Men and a Baby” have done so well. In October, she appeared in Hallmark Channel’s “Girlfriendship” about a trio of best friends, co-starring Krystal Joy Brown and Lyndie Greenwood.

“I love what they’re doing,” she said. “They’re putting three of their female leads together, three of their male leads together and you know, mixing and seeing what magic they can create with that same formula that people just love seeing over and over and over again.”

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Tamera Mowry-Housley Has Her Own Nickname for Hallmark Fans

When Mowry-Housley filmed her first Hallmark movie in 2019, she never expected that just four years later she’d have so many films under her belt nor that the fans — whom she said she’s nicknamed “Hallmarkies” — would become so loyal and invested in her career and life.

“This is crazy, it’s amazing,” she said on the Hallmark Happenings podcast. “Like what I thought and…now what’s kind of, you know, happening? More than anything, the audience — Hallmarkies is what I call you guys — you have your faves, and it may take a while for them to get to know you as an actor or an actress, but when they love you, they love you for life!” 

“I love that they are so invested,” she continued. “They’re invested in your character, they’re invested in what you do outside of work. And I love that. I love it.”

Though Mowry-Housley couldn’t reveal what she’s working on next for Hallmark, she did say that her work with the network has turned her into a huge fan of making Christmas movies.

She said, “I think now I’m addicted to doing Christmas films! I’m addicted to the feeling of just joy and wonder.” 

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