Heavy/Hallmark/Getty Hallmark's Tyler Hynes and Jonathan Bennett
Fans can’t get enough of the sweet and unexpected friendship that’s emerged between Hallmark stars Tyler Hynes and Jonathan Bennett. After their most recent meet-up, the actors both posted photos on February 20, 2024, taken at the St. James Theater in New York where Bennett is currently starring in his first Broadway musical, “Spamalot.”
“There are many iconic bromances out there, but this might be the most iconic,” one fan wrote.
That sentiment has been echoed countless times over by fellow fans, smitten with the seemingly unlikely bond that has formed between Hynes and Bennett.
Hynes is the closest thing Hallmark Channel comes to having a “bad boy” in its ranks. A bit of an enigma, the handsome but rugged bachelor sets hearts aflutter every time he posts smoldering, shirtless photos or slow-motion videos of himself skateboarding, riding his motorcycle, or even — hold on to your hearts — playing with his beloved nieces. Further fanning the flames of his bad boy status, Hynes has been known to smoke a cigarette and periodically hosts online chats with his biggest fans, who call themselves Hynies, during which they all take shots out of little glass boots he sells each holiday season.
Bennett, meanwhile, is the network’s unofficial ambassador of glee. If there are games at a fan convention, he’s hosting them. If there’s a tree lighting ceremony that needs an emcee with thousand-watt energy, he’s your man. Married to entrepreneur and TV host Jaymes Vaughan since early 2022, Bennett is very serious about one thing at the network, though: championing representation for all. After playing it straight in movies for years, Bennett — who publicly came out in 2017, per Salon, starred in Hallmark’s first holiday movie with a gay lead character (in 2020’s “The Christmas House”). In 2022, he starred in and produced “The Holiday Sitter,” the network’s first movie to center around the love story of a gay couple.
How and when Hallmark’s hottest bachelor and its self-proclaimed “Gay King of Christmas,” per Paper Magazine, became such good buds is not entirely clear, but one thing is: their fans are loving it.
Hallmark’s Tyler Hynes Visits Jonathan Bennett at Broadway Theater Where He’s Performing
As part of their most recent brotherly lovefest, Hynes and Bennett posted pics from the stage where Bennett is playing Sir Robin in Monty Python’s “Spamalot” through April, a role he recently told Heavy is “the biggest dream come true of my entire life.”
“Bros before shows,” Bennett quipped in the caption of a photo from the stage before a show, with Hynes planting a kiss on his cheek.
In the comment section, Hynes rhymed Bennett’s “bros before shows” line with, “Through the highs n lows 🤍”
Hynes also posted a video of his experience watching Bennett perform in the show, from a shot of Bennett running out to take a bow on stage to footage someone else took of Hynes and Vaughan wildly clapping for the cast.
Hynes captioned his video by writing, “Few things beat seeing your friend’s dreams come true. 🤍”
Fans flooded both posts with comments, swooning over Hynes and Bennett’s sweet support of each other.
One Hallmark fan wrote, “@tyler_hynes, love this and so happy for @jonathandbennett and just love how you show the love & support to your friends, it is such a beautiful thing to see, the kindness! 🤍🥰❤️”
Someone else commented, “Now this is beautiful and I’m sure to witness this in person was magical!!! My goodness… Be still my heart! ♥️”
“I love how you support and cheer on your friends,” another fan wrote. “It’s a beautiful thing to witness ❤️”
Tyler Hynes Calls Jonathan Bennett a ‘Rare and Beautiful Man’
The Broadway theater posts from Hynes and Bennett weren’t the first time they’ve adorably flaunted their “bromance” on social media. On December 11, Bennett posted photos from Christmas Con in New Jersey of him with Hynes and another with fellow Hallmark star and Romance University founder Benjamin Ayres.
“Bromance University was in session,” Bennett captioned the post. “Love these boys, and so proud to call them my bros.”
Vaughan, who’s clearly happy for his hubby to hang out with his Hallmark buddies, quipped, “I’m still in line for this meet n greet. Where did everybody go?”
Hynes also posted an Instagram photo of himself visiting Bennett on the New York set of his Food Network show, “Halloween Wars,” on October 3. That date is notorious among diehard fans of Bennett’s hit 2004 movie, “Mean Girls,” per USA Today, because of an iconic scene in which Lindsay Lohan’s character remembers when the boy she has a crush on, Bennett’s Aaron Samuels, turned around to ask her for the date.
“It’s October 3rd,” she answers, looking positively smitten.
In Hynes’ October 3 post, he wrote of Bennett, “This is a rare and beautiful man. The breadth of his talents we’ve only seen the beginning of, and he already does it all. Luckily there’s a day where we can tell him how much we appreciate him. Today. Oct 3rd, @jonathandbennett 👑 here’s to you and what’s ahead my good man 🥃”
Bennett replied, “(I) feel like a winner because of this post. You are the true legend, and inspire us every day. The world doesn’t even know what we are capable of together brother. 💙💙”
The bromance between Hynes and Bennett isn’t the only friendship the actors have nurtured with their Hallmark colleagues. Both have been known to sing the praises of those they treasure working with.
Bennett has been close with longtime Hallmark star Lacey Chabert ever since they starred in “Mean Girls” together two decades ago. He recently called her “a national treasure” and told Access in 2020 that he considered her one of his “angels on earth.”
Hynes, meanwhile, has a two-decade long bond with Hallmark star Andrew Walker, whose wife happens to be Hynes’ cousin. They have forged a special bond with their “Three Wise Men and a Baby” co-stars Paul Campbell and Kimberley Sustad, and have been known to post funny videos from their hangouts.
“We hang out together all the time,” Walker told Heavy in 2023. “This dynamic of Paul, Tyler, myself and Kimberley in the ‘Three Wise Men’ world right now, there’s a chemistry and an understanding. We’re just so different in, like, our animalistic qualities of who we are and how we carry (ourselves), but somehow we just work. I love spending time with them.”