Kristoffer Polaha Talks Hallmark Stardom, Directing Debut and Meghan Markle’s Inspiration (EXCLUSIVE)

Kristoffer Polaha, a prominent figure in Hallmark movies and TV shows, has been charming audiences for nearly a decade with his roles and heartfelt projects. The tall, dark and handsome star just premiered his latest film for the channel, The Christmas Quest, and is currently in post-production on his directorial debut, Mimics, which he also stars in.

On top of all that, Polaha, who can also be seen in films like Wonder Woman 1984, Jurassic World Dominion and The Shift, has partnered with the humanitarian organization World Vision and is encouraging his fans to follow his lead in giving back to those who need it most on Giving Tuesday and throughout the season.

Just in time for the holidays, Polaha sat down with Woman’s World to talk about his charity work, why he loves Hallmark, stepping behind the camera and more.

Woman’s World: How did you get involved with World Vision?

Kristoffer Polaha: As an actor, you have seasons in your life where you get so much attention put on you, and it’s a bit overwhelming. I think that life in the public eye can be dangerous if you don’t have a really healthy outlet for it. I’m a person of faith, and one of the things that I’m taught in my faith is you take care of the orphans and widows and people who have less than you do, so service has always been something that I’ve come back to.

As my public awareness grew, I wanted to find ways to give back that had a bigger reach. I was working on Dater’s Handbook for Hallmark in 2016, and my costar was Meghan Markle. She had some pictures from a trip to Africa, and I was like, “What is this?” She said, “World Vision took me on this trip, and they wanted to show me what they’re doing.” I looked them up and realized that there’d been this long line of people, like Bono from U2, who’ve been ambassadors and advocates for World Vision. I did a deep dive and then randomly—and I thought that Meghan might have made a phone call—World Vision reached out to me.

In March of 2020, they invited me to go on a trip. I was scheduled to go, but the pandemic hit, and that put a kibosh on it. Then they asked me if I would design a piece of jewelry for their charitable catalog. My wife and I came up with our “Further Together” bracelet. It’s a set of three bracelets. One’s red, one’s blue, one’s yellow, and they’re handmade by craftspeople in India. They’re really simple. The idea was that you can wear them until they fall off, or you can give one to somebody that you meet along the way. To my surprise, the first year they were in the catalog, they sold out within weeks.

Watching the work that World Vision does is impressive. They’re first responders in times of crisis. While they are a Christian nonprofit, they help communities regardless of their faith, and they’re changing the world for good. It’s a really cool organization, and there are so many different and creative ways that people can help.

WW: What has your experience working with Hallmark been like?

KP: Working for Hallmark has honestly been one of the highlights of my career and a gift that I never expected. The first movie I did was Dater’s Handbook with Meghan, and so much blossomed out of that one film.

I remember when we started working on that movie, the costume designer apologized, and was like, “I’m so sorry. We’re making a Hallmark movie.” I stopped her right then and there and said, “Hold on a minute.” You can’t apologize to an actor about that. It’s my face and my name, and it’s going to make me feel bad about the job that I took. I said, “I’m going to treat this like a Martin Scorsese film. I’m going to treat it like my only chance to get hired again.”

That attitude has been with me ever since. I’ve made 18 Hallmark movies since 2016, so that’s pretty cool. My work with Hallmark has been so wonderful because it’s given me an opportunity to help make scripts better, to jump in and help directors make shots better, to collaborate with my fellow actors.

This concept of “best idea wins” started to really manifest, so when I show up on set, I come prepared with choices and talk about what the story’s going to be, and then figure out the best way to tell that story. It’s really become a tangible, deeply enjoyable process that has only been made available through those Hallmark movies. Series television is very locked in, and you have to honor the writing to such a strict degree. With Hallmark, it’s a collaborative effort, and if you have a great idea, they’ll be like, “Make it better. Do whatever it takes.”

I get to do quality control to make the best, most enjoyable movies for our audience. The Hallmark audience is unbelievably faithful and rabid and wonderful and enthusiastic and engaged. They love the movies and by extension, they love us, and what a gift it is to be in people’s homes during the holiday and to be a part of those traditions and be ever-present during a really special time. I really do feel blessed to be on the network.

WW: What’s been your most memorable Hallmark movie experience?

KP: I think A Biltmore Christmas really is the pinnacle of what those holiday films can be. We filmed it at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, and we knew we were making a special film. There was a patina and a feeling of grandeur. I think 8,000 people turned out to be extras in the movie, and we had this overwhelming support from the community.

The film became an instant classic for people. I know that’s a bold statement to make, but I’ve had so many people reach out to me and say it’s their favorite movie. It’s on Netflix, so a lot of people have watched it there. It’s everything those movies should be, and then it’s a notch above in quality and story.

Marcy Holland was the writer, and she did such a great job with this fun, whimsical time-travel story. A girl goes back to Christmas in 1947 and they’re making a movie in the Golden Age of Hollywood, and she meets the star of the film and they fall in love. The premise is so funny and farfetched, but when you see it play out, you root for these two people and you want them to spend eternity together.

WW: What was it like making your latest Hallmark movie, The Christmas Quest?

KP: It’s with Lacey Chabert. People call her the Queen of Christmas Movies, and I get it. Working with her, I understand why she’s one of the greatest when it comes to holiday films, because she’s so professional and on-point and kind. She’s a total team player and collaborator, and she’s so willing to hear every idea.

Our characters had been married and they’re now divorced. It’s a unique story for Hallmark, because we’re used to watching first love and new couples finding each other. This is a story about people who’ve already done all that and decided not to do it anymore, but they need each other. In needing each other, they’re brought back and reminded why they fell in love in the first place, so you’re watching a much more mature love unfold. It’s interesting, and the audience is really going to love it.

We had such a fun time making this movie. We shot on a glacier, in a lava cave, behind waterfalls. We shot all over Iceland and had the most incredible adventure offscreen and onscreen. It’s made for the big screen. It’s a huge action-adventure, and Iceland gets to be a character in it.

WW: You had your big break playing John F. Kennedy Jr. in the 2003 TV movie America’s Prince: The John F. Kennedy Jr. Story. What was that experience like?

KP: It was a little overwhelming. Being an actor is really hard. The opportunities are few and far between, and there’s a lot of attrition that happens between wanting to do something and actually doing it. I was a junior in college at NYU and I was having a pretty bad semester, so I wrote a list of goals. Of course, I was filled with the hubris that comes with wanting to be an actor. For my five-year goal, I wrote that I wanted to be a national figure by 2003, and the John F. Kennedy Jr. movie ended up airing in January of that year.

In a weird way, I met this goal that I had set for myself. I remember walking in New York City and there was a giant poster of my face in Times Square. I went to the subway and my face was literally all over the station. I was like, “Holy cow, I just hit the motherlode.” It felt like peaking too early. That was my first thing out of the gate, and 40 million people watched it. It was a big, big, big thing for me.

When I got the job, I understood the responsibility of it. I lived in New York City when he did and was keenly aware of him my whole life. My dad was a huge fan of his father as a president, and I grew up knowing all about John F. Kennedy. One of the films that had a huge impact on me was Oliver Stone‘s JFK. It made me realize that narrative matters and the way you tell a story can shape people’s viewpoint.

JFK Jr. changed my life and the way that I moved through the world. One of the things I learned about John was that at a party he would spend so much time asking questions about the person he was talking to, and he never talked about himself, and everyone felt amazing after they had their interactions with him. He was genuinely curious about other people, and that was something that I immediately plugged into my brain. He had enough confidence to be humble.

I was 23 years old when I played him. I was a lot younger than he was when he died, and I had to play him in high school and then all the way up to his death, so the stakes couldn’t have been higher. It was a really important moment in my life, and one I’m very proud of. It was really intense and symbolic and rife with so many different emotions.

WW: What can we expect from your upcoming feature directorial debut, Mimics?

KP: It’s about a comedian and impersonator who’s not doing great. One night, a mysterious invitation shows up asking him to join an elite society of entertainers and all he has to do is sign, which he does. What follows is a Faustian deal. It’s a parable and a creepy love story all wrapped up in one. I had the time of my life directing it.

My story begins back in 1994, when I watched Pulp Fiction in a theater in Sparks, Nevada. I remember coming home from that movie and being consumed with a desire to make films. I started thinking about shots and stories. The fact that my dream came to fruition literally 30 years later has a great deal of emotional significance for me.

We filmed in my hometown in Nevada, and I was able to put my dad in the movie. He’s got the last line of the film. A friend of mine from elementary school wrote the script and my editor is a friend from high school. It’s a passion project, and it’s something that I hope will entertain people, but it also has so much personal resonance. I haven’t even been able to process it yet. I’m so excited for people to see it.

WW: Did you bring anything you learned from Hallmark to the movie?

KP: It’s a creepy little love story, so there’s a Hallmarkian throughline in the film, it’s just my take on it. We shot it in 15 days, which is how long it takes to make a Hallmark movie. Having made 18 films all within a 15-day parameter, I knew I could do it for this one.

I’ll never forget on Dater’s Handbook with Meghan Markle, there was a wonderful director, but there was a scene where he didn’t know where to put the camera. I looked at the room and the lighting, and I thought about the shot and was able to problem-solve. Meghan turned to me and she said, “You know, you’d make a really good director. You should direct.”

At NYU I’d write and direct little plays with my friends, and my original goal was always to direct and act like Clint Eastwood or Billy Bob Thornton. It took me a long time to get there, but the Hallmark movies absolutely informed how I was able to do it and they gave me that fuel I needed to realize you don’t need a big budget. You can do a movie for a million bucks and you can do it in 15 days, so I went for it.