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Actor Tyler Hynes has played so many roles in his long career, it’s probably hard to pick a favorite. But the Hallmark heartthrob’s favorite real-life role seems pretty clear: he takes being a fun-loving uncle to his two young nieces very seriously.
On social media, the Toronto-born star periodically shares glimpses of the good times he has with his brother Brandon’s daughters — Ella, now 10, and Haylie, 12 — whenever he visits them in Canada, melting fans’ hearts with the creative activities he comes up with and the clever videos he posts.
This summer, with most TV productions halted due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, Hynes has had time for plenty of hijinks and bonding with the girls, vowing to “never grow up” in one of his posts about their summer fun. His fans — affectionately called Hynies — can’t get enough.
Fans & Friends React as Tyler Hynes Jumps for Joy With Nieces
On July 26, 2023, Hynes posted a slow-motion video on Instagram of one of his summer activities with Ella and Haylie, placing a wheelbarrow full of water balloons on a trampoline. Hynes captured their funny reactions as the three of them, wearing their swimsuits, jumped and burst the balloons. Hynes edited in old video footage of the girls laughing through the same activity when they were just five and seven years old.
To caption the post, Hynes wrote, “🎈Uncle PSA🎈’Never Grow Up’ #InternationalUncleDay”
Fans swooned over the fun footage of Hynes with his nieces, and many deemed him the “best uncle ever” or the ultimate “funcle.”
In fact, Hynes liked a comment from one fan who wrote, “@tyler_hynes thought this was a great description of you!!! funcle [fuhn-kel] noun. 1. Like a regular uncle, just way cooler. 2. Well trained in the arts and tactics of fun and shenanigans. See also: handsome, exceptional, stylish, and perfect!”
Another person wrote, “I love all the love I see here Funcle Tyler 🥰”
Hynes also got the thumbs up from Hallmark friends like Benjamin Ayres, who commented, “Buddy. Yes. 🤍 👏”
Andrew Walker‘s wife Cassandra Troy, who happens to be Hynes’ cousin, wrote, “This is amazing!!!”
And Erin Cahill commented, “This is EXCELLENT!! 👏👏👏”
In another Instagram post on August 1, Hynes shared a series of photos of himself and one of his nieces doing yoga poses on top of picnic tables. In the first photo, his infamous pup Rusty could be seen sitting nearby.
Hynes captioned the post, “Namaste 🙏🏻 together. Slay forever 🤘🏻.”
Once again, Hynies flooded the post with compliments, including one who wrote, “You are an amazing Uncle and human! Treasured memories being made♥️”
Despite All the Playfulness, Tyler Hynes Takes His Role of Uncle Seriously
Though Hynes has posted the most fun moments with his nieces over the years, including an epic Nerf gun fight during their 2022 holiday break and another funny video of him gearing up for battle with Ella and Haylie, he takes his role as their uncle seriously.
In 2021, he co-starred with Lacey Chabert in “Sweet Carolina,” a Hallmark movie about a woman who must return home when she becomes the unexpected guardian of her niece and nephew. The storyline hit home for Hynes, who shared on Twitter during the movie’s premiere that he’d agreed to be his nieces’ official guardian.
He tweeted, “It’s wild, my brother and his wife asked me a year ago if I would be their children’s guardian in this circumstance and it really got me thinking. seeing this story come to me was just lovely #sweetcarolina”
Hynes’ reputation as a loving, creative uncle also may have helped earn him votes in a recent Hallmark poll about which of the “Three Wise Men and a Baby” stars fans would be most willing to leave their own baby with. Walker, who has two sons, won the most votes, but Paul Campbell — who has a seven-year-old son — scoffed at Hynes coming in second place.
Campbell dryly quipped on Twitter, “Andrew I get, he has actual children. I came in third behind ‘guy with motorcycle and small dog.’”
Campbell also marveled with People in December that bachelor Hynes was so good with the babies on the set of “Three Wise Men and a Baby,” so much so that they started calling him a “baby whisperer.”
“I think the most surprising thing is how good Tyler was with the babies,” he recalled. “He was just like a natural-born baby whisperer. He would take the crying baby, and he would just walk around whispering things to it.”
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