For over a decade, the Hallmark Channel has been producing everyone's favorite form of television comfort food: Christmas movies. Most of the movies involve unlikely strangers falling in love with one another just in time for the holidays, and often involve copious amounts of hot chocolate, ice skating, and miscommunication. There's a different Christmas movie for everyone's personality and mood.
These cozy and wintry romantic comedies have developed quite the following online, and routinely draw in millions upon millions of viewers for every airing. In honor of the channel's annual "Countdown to Christmas," it's hard to ignore the best actresses that have appeared in Hallmark's Christmas classics.
Updated on December 3rd, 2022, by Lynn Gibbs: Between Candace Cameron Bure and Alicia Witt, certain actresses are known for their time on the Hallmark Channel. More importantly, the Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel. Seeing these familiar faces can be fun for holiday viewers who are fans of their work. Likewise, when Hallmark viewers see these famous names attached to a Christmas movie, it means the movie is bound to be a success. But with so many actresses on the Hallmark Channel, which ones are the most popular in the Christmas movie world?
Candace Cameron Bure
Candace Cameron Bure was most known for her time as DJ Tanner on Full House, but she's now most known for her time in Hallmark's Christmas movies. The one thing all of her Christmas movies have in common is the spirit of optimism during the holiday season. As many times as fans have seen her in these kinds of movies, they never tire.
Recently, Candace has been seen in The Christmas Contest, If I Only Had Christmas, Christmas Town, and A Shoe Addict's Christmas. She's been a part of some of the best Hallmark Christmas movies. With so many iconic holiday films under her belt, it doesn't look like Candace Cameron Bure's net worth is winding down any time soon.
Erin Cahill
Actress Erin Cahill will forever be known for her time on Power Rangers Time Force, but she’s also remembered for Cut to the Chase and Red Widow.
More than those roles, Cahill is known for her time on the Hallmark Channel. She’s been in countless movies (both holiday-themed and not) that have become popular over the years. Recently, Cahill can be seen in 2022s Christmas Bedtime Stories. She can also be seen alongside fellow Hallmark Channel actress Ali Liebert in Every Time a Bell Rings.
Alison Sweeney
Alison Sweeney is a legendary soap opera actress who has been a part of Days of Our Lives since the ‘80s. On top of soaps, she’s also been a part of various Hallmark projects, like an ongoing murder-mystery series called Murder, She Baked.
Fans of Sweeney’s can see her in Hallmark’s newest 2022 movie, A Magical Christmas Village. Before then, she has been the star of Time for Them to Come Home for Christmas, Open by Christmas, and Good Morning, Christmas! to name a few.
Merritt Patterson
Canadian actress Merritt Patterson is most known for her time on the TV series The Royals and The Art of More. However, fans of hers have seen her pop up in more and more Hallmark Christmas movies.
Gingerbread Miracle (2021) was Patterson’s most recent Christmas movie on Hallmark, which was proceeded by Château Christmas, A Picture Perfect Christmas, and Christmas at the Palace. Her holiday movies on Hallmark are some of the best, as they’re light, romantic, and whimsical for the holidays. The more modern ones separate themselves from Hallmark's rival, the Lifetime Channel's, Christmas movies because of Patterson's acting.
Holly Robinson Peete
Holly Robinson Peete hasn't just been in a handful of Hallmark Christmas movies, she's been a part of major movies like 21 Jump Street and TV shows like Morning Show Mysteries. However, it's her time on the Hallmark Channel that's made her a household name.
In 2021, Holly Robinson Peete was a part of two Hallmark Christmas movies, Our Christmas Journey and The Christmas Bond. Fans can also catch her in Christmas in Evergreen: Bells Are Ringing, The Christmas Doctor, and the Christmas in Evergreen series. Hallmark movies have plenty of things in common during the holiday season, but it's those themes of love and mystery that fans love.
Alicia Witt
Just as there are some of the best Hallmark actors, there are even more actresses — including Alicia Witt. Though she may best be known for her work in the film Dune, as well as television shows including Cybill, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and Friday Night Lights, Witt has created quite the second career for herself in the world of Christmas movies.
Witt has been starring in Hallmark Christmas movies since 2013. To date, she has appeared in some of the best Hallmark Christmas movies, like A Very Merry Mix-Up, Christmas at Cartwright's, I'm Not Ready for Christmas, Christmas List, The Mistletoe Inn, Christmas on Honeysuckle Lane, Our Christmas Love Song, and more.
Jessica Lowndes
After spending five years starring in The CW's 90210 as Adrianna, and developing a career in the world of B-grade horror movies, Jessica Lowndes has truly found her niche in the world of Hallmark Channel's feelgood Christmas classics.
Between 2015 and 2019, Lowndes has so far starred in five of these festive favorites, including Merry Matrimony, A December Bride, Magical Christmas Ornaments, Christmas at Pemberley Manor, and Too Close for Christmas. Her 2021 film, Angel Falls Christmas, starring alongside Chad Michael Murray was another anticipated Hallmark Christmas movie.
Lindy Booth
For fans of cult favorite television shows, Lindy Booth might best be recognized for her starring roles on series such as October Road, The Philanthropist, Relic Hunter, and The Librarians. Besides starring in some fan-favorite niche TV shows, Booth has also been quietly starring in some of Hallmark's cozy Christmas movies for years, too.
One of the actresses with the earliest start dates on this list, Booth has been appearing on Hallmark since 2011, in films such as Christmas Magic, The Sound of Christmas, and Rocky Mountain Christmas. More recently, one of her better Hallmark movies, 2019's Swept Up by Christmas, was well-received.
Nikki Deloach
With her most prominent role before Hallmark having been as the regular role of Lacey Hamilton on the MTV sitcom Awkward, Nikki Deloach has only recently burst onto the scene of Hallmark Christmas movies. But in just a few years at the network, she's more than made a name for herself.
Since 2015, Deloach has appeared in just under a dozen Hallmark movies, six of which have been Christmas-themed: Christmas Land, A Dream of Christmas, Reunited at Christmas, Two Turtle Doves, Five More Minutes, and Cranberry Christmas.
Kimberley Sustad
Actress Kimberley Sustad has only been working actively since 2012, but she's been part of the Hallmark Channel family since 2014 and working consistently within its different brands of movies ever since, including mysteries and other seasonal romances.
She first broke out onto the Christmas movie scene in 2014 with the adorable and beloved The Nine Lives of Christmas. Since then, she has appeared in even more Christmas movies like Hearts of Christmas, A Godwink Christmas, and Sense, Sensibility & Snowmen. More recently, a sequel to one of Hallmark's best Christmas movies The Nine Lives of Christmas came out in 2021, The Nine Kittens of Christmas. Up next for Sustad is Lights, Camera, Christmas! in 2022.
Doris Roberts
Not every Hallmark movie has to be driven by a character in pursuit of romance. Even if the movies contain the classic Hallmark romantic elements, sometimes, they also focus on characters who happen to be a little older and a bit more magical. It also helps if they're played by Hollywood icons like Everybody Loves Raymond star, Doris Roberts. Roberts is one of the most famous Hallmark actresses on this list to star.
When it comes to Hallmark movies, Roberts is best known for her starring role as the iconic character Mrs. Miracle, a magical woman who spreads love and cheer to those in need most during the holiday season. Roberts starred in two movies as the character: Mrs. Miracle and in Call Me Mrs. Miracle. Sadly, Roberts passed away in 2016.
Ali Liebert
Canadian actress Ali Liebert may be best known to fans of popular television series like Bomb Girls and Lost Girl, as well as for noteworthy turns in series including Legends of Tomorrow, iZombie, Ten Days in the Valley, and Hallmark's own Chesapeake Shores. But she's also made quite the name for herself in the world of Hallmark Christmas movies, even taking part in one of the rare Christmas movie series. She's been in enough Hallmark Christmas movies for even the most cynical viewers to fall for.
She has appeared in plenty of Hallmark movies since 2012, and four of them have been Christmas-themed: Love at the Thanksgiving Day Parade, the ongoing series A Gift to Remember, A Gift to Cherish, and her latest movie, Every Time a Bell Rings.
Jodie Sweetin
Jodie Sweetin has already had quite the career, thanks to her early child star start as Stephanie Tanner on Full House. But Sweetin has now joined an impressive list of her Full House castmates—including Lori Loughlin, Candace Cameron Bure, and Marla Sokoloff—to become one of Hallmark's brightest Christmas stars.
Since 2017, Sweetin has been a regular in Hallmark's movies, both Christmas-themed and otherwise. So far, she's starred as the lead in beloved Christmas movies like Finding Santa and Entertaining Christmas. In 2022, fans can catch her in Hallmark's A Cozy Christmas Inn.
Danica McKellar
Jodie Sweetin isn't the only former child star who's found a second calling as a Hallmark star. None other than Danica McKellar, best known as The Wonder Year's Winnie Cooper, has proven to be one of Hallmark's most popular and most successful stars, with an impressive slate of highly watched and beloved Christmas classics to boast about.
Since 2015, McKellar has appeared in some of the best royalty-themed Hallmark Christmas classics like Crown for Christmas. She's also been in My Christmas Dream, Coming Home for Christmas, andYou, Me, & the Christmas Trees to name a few.
Lacey Chabert
Whether fans know her best as Mean Girls' Gretchen Weiners, The Wild Thornberry's Eliza Thornberry, or Party of Five's Claudia Salinger, Lacey Chabert has been a household name for quite some time in Hollywood. And now, she's a household name among Hallmark Channel fans, quickly rising to become one of the channel's Christmas movie queens.
Since 2012, Chabert has been producing one Hallmark movie after another, including eight Christmas classics: Matchmaker Santa, A Royal Christmas, Family for Christmas, and A Christmas Melody, to name a few. Lacey Chabert's best Hallmark Channel Christmas movies are those that have a bit of mystery and romance to them during the holiday season.