Michael Rady: 14 Facts About The Hallmark Channel Star

Actor Michael Rady has been active in Hollywood for a while, and chances are that you have seen his face around even if you do not know his name. That is because Rady has either starred or recurred on a massive number of television shows over the last two decades and had one-off guest stints on even more. Then there are the handful of movies he has appeared in —   "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" and its sequel, anyone? — and perhaps most notably, his work with Hallmark. Over the years, Rady has become one of Hallmark's go-to leading men, earning himself a slew of fans in the process.

Having appeared in a lot of one-season television shows, Rady has not always had the best of luck with his projects, but Hallmark has been one consistency ever since he first appeared in the 2015 film "Cloudy with a Chance of Love." Rady balances his TV movies with his other work projects, and somehow finds the time to engage in a ridiculous amount of indoor and outdoor hobbies. He is also a devoted husband and father, with some very California vibes for a guy from the East Coast. Though he often plays the nice guy, Rady does take on the occasional villainous role. In interviews, however, Rady comes off as affable and sincere, which is perhaps why Hallmark keeps calling (also, his talent). Here are 14 of the most interesting facts about lovable Hallmark Channel star Michael Rady.

Like so many people who go on to study theatre in school, Michael Rady had already demonstrated an interest in acting prior to enrolling at Temple University. According to an article from the Boston Herald, Rady attended his first audition — for a local production of "Anything Goes," which he booked — when he was only 15 years old, accompanied by his encouraging mother. And once Rady was hooked, and perhaps due to his mega-supportive family, he never looked back. "I never questioned doing anything else," Rady said in an interview with the "Hallmarkies Podcast." "I was very lucky to come from a household where ... my dreams weren't questioned or anything."

Philadelphia's The Actors Center also played a large role in Rady's evolution as an actor, as it is where he first started taking classes to learn the craft. He even made a video about his experiences at the center in 2011, where he credited his teacher, Rodney Robb, with helping him learn confidence. "He really taught me how to believe in myself. I didn't not believe in myself, but I didn't believe in myself, and here was this guy leaning out from behind the camera saying, 'You, I believe in you," Rady said in the video, which is still posted on the center's YouTube channel more than a decade later. "And that was pretty powerful — and it really kind of sent me on my way."

When Michael Rady joined "UnREAL" in its second season, people were already raving about the Lifetime drama. The show's first season won a Critic's Choice Television Award for "Most Exciting New Series," and many were hailing it one of the best shows of 2015, including Entertainment Weekly, which named it one of the "best new shows," and IndieWire, which ranked it number 10 for the year. So, Rady was in good hands when he signed on to appear as Coleman Wasserman, the new showrunner of the "Everlasting," the fictional dating show at the heart of "UnREAL." "I had never even heard of the show. It was not on my radar at all," he told Vulture in 2016. "I got an audition. For some reason when you hear 'Lifetime' you think, aw I don't know. So went in, just had fun, no pressure, and did it."

"UnREAL" is very much not your typical Lifetime show — it is actually quite dark — and Rady and his wife became quick fans after watching it. Unfortunately for Rady, despite briefly being a love interest for the main lead, Rachel Goldberg (Shiri Appleby), his character was killed off before the season's end. Interestingly, while the whole premise of the show is to expose the darkness behind the scenes of a dating show, Rady told Vulture that he is not a fan of "The Bachelor" and its contemporaries. He does, however, like competition shows such as "American Idol" and "So You Think You Can Dance."

Most of us do not associate Philadelphia, where Michael Rady grew up, with surf culture. But what do you know, the Philadelphian is a diehard surfer. On his birthday back in 2016, Rady posted an Instagram photo of his sand-covered feet laying beside his surfboard, in front of the crashing waves on El Porto Beach. "I snuck away for a few blissful hours this morning for my birthday-surfday...man was it splendid," he wrote. As he shared with Talk Nerdy With Us, that same birthday, Rady's wife bought him a new surfboard as a present — presumably the v.Bowls from Ryan Lovelace Surf that he tagged on Instagram.

We are not sure exactly how long Rady has been surfing, but there are photos of him with a board dating back to at least 2011, when he participated in a celebrity surf event for Project Save Our Surf, and he talked about his hobby in a 2010 interview with TheCWSource while promoting "Melrose Place." And clearly, it is a big part of his identity, since "surfer" is the fourth word in his Instagram bio. Rady has even expressed hopes that his kids will follow in his footsteps and take up the sport. "I'm not going to force them to do anything they don't want to do — I can only actively share my passion for those things with them — but I think there's a pretty decent likelihood they would probably be interested in it too," he told Talk Nerdy With Us.

It is amazing that a dad of four with a thriving acting career has time for one hobby, let alone a collection of them. And yet, Michael Rady appears to have a plethora of interests that he pursues both inside the home and in nature. Beyond surfing and playing the piano, gardening is one of Rady's most recurring interview discussion topics and a common topic on his social media. He has posted photos of his kids joining him in the garden, and in one post, said he began gardening when he was a teenager in Philly.

Woodworking and cooking are of Rady's other big interests, per his interview with Talk Nerdy With Us, and he has also been known to brew kombucha as a hobby (again, where does he get the time?). In an interview from 2008 with Walden Ponders, Rady also noted that Ultimate Frisbee and midday movie-going were on his list. One of the most notable things about Rady's interests is how eclectic they are. Some are more active, while others require stillness, and a lot of them are unexpected choices as far as hobbies go. Take calligraphy, for example. Rady told PhillyBurbs.com that he was a fan of the handwriting art, which is certainly not a widely practiced pastime for people of his generation.

Michael Rady has a connection to nature and the environment that seems to be not just a hobby or an interest, but a way of life for the actor. This is evident by way of his vegan lifestyle, which appears to be a central part of his identity, considering how often he mentions veganism and plant-based cooking in interviews. In his 2016 interview with Talk Nerdy With Us, Rady said that he had been a vegan for almost a decade, which means that he is approaching the 20-year mark within the next few years.

Rady has a variety of reasons for maintaining his veganism but has said it started as an experiment into trying something new. "It started out as just a curiosity, just pure curiosity. I've always been interested in all things about my body and health and fitness, so it was just another area of exploration, and as soon as I tried it, I never looked back," he told Talk Nerdy With Us. "It just felt dynamite and I didn't think twice, and now it's an equal, three-part thing for me. Now it's animals and environment and health." In that same interview, Rady said that plant-based cooking has become one of his passions, and in a separate article from People, said that he grows his own fruit. He has since purchased acres of land, so we can only imagine what Rady is growing nowadays.

Michael Rady has played a doctor on television, but absolutely hates the sight of blood. This goes for not only the real thing, but even the fake blood they use on sets, which is often just corn syrup, red food coloring, and maybe a couple of other grocery store items. Still, when he portrayed Dr. Micah Barnes on the short-lived drama "Emily Owens M.D.," Rady admitted to TVSource that he was extremely squeamish. "[Blood] is just horrible. It's weird when we're doing operating scenes and I'll turn to our tech advisors, they're working surgeons and doctors, and I'll say, 'hey, is this enough blood on my hands?' Just the fact that they know how much blood should be on my hands...I've never had blood on my hands. Wow, that's gross." he said in the interview.

Despite his extreme aversion to plasma — real or otherwise — Rady has since signed on to play multiple other doctors, which is kind of hilarious. In fact, if someone were to count, it is very possible that doctor is the most common job for his characters. He portrayed Dr. Hans Paré in one episode of "New Amsterdam" and another doctor in his Hallmark movie "The Christmas Bow," but his best known medical professional character is Dr. Matt Cooper, who Rady has portrayed in 11 episodes of the hit show "Chicago Med." While he did not play a doctor on either, Rady has also made appearances on two other huge medical series, "ER" and "The Resident."

The first "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" film was Michael Rady's screen debut (and first professional job), and it remains one of his biggest movie roles to date. On the "Hallmarkies Podcast," he credited the movie with teaching him about the ins and outs of how to behave on a set, and said that he had no idea what he was doing at the time. His character, Kostas, was brought back for the sequel three years later, in 2008, and Rady has said on numerous occasions that he would be more than willing to appear in a third installment of the series. "I'm looking forward to the day my phone rings with that phone call," he told reporter Brittany Valadez in 2017. "I would be pleased and proud to be a part of it."

While it may sound silly to talk about a third film so long after the last, "Top Gun: Maverick" and others have shown that a sequel can find success decades after the original. Plus, rumors of a third "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" have been swirling for years. In a 2022 chat with SiriusXM's "Pop Culture Spotlight with Jessica Shaw," "Traveling Pants" star Amber Tamblyn talked about what was causing the third movie's deferment after a decade of discussion. "It's very complicated for a lot of reasons, some of which include just the fact that between the four of us, we all have, like, 870 children," she said.