How Hallmark Stars Spend Their Millions

Hallmark has the holidays on lock, especially when it comes to Christmas. In 2022 alone, the channel released 31 original films leading up to the end of December. This meant even more opportunity for Hallmark's biggest actors like Lacey Chabert and Jonathan Bennett to rake in big paychecks. For example, Eloise Mumford is worth an estimated $2 million for her 10 years of work with the network, including Hallmark Hall of Fame movies like "Christmas With Holly" and newer roles like "The Baker's Son" in 2021. "I'm a sucker for love stories and I'm a sucker for stories about community as well," Mumford said in a Hallmark Channel interview. Fans are also suckers for the variety of Hallmark's family friendly films, which helps its actors like Mumford fund their personal lives like going on hiking trips and having fun on boats. 

The channel shows no signs of slowing down, as it continues to produce films at a bargain cost for around $2 million per original movie. Even though the SAG then considers these low budget films with accordingly lower salaries, Hallmark's richest stars can still pull in thousands of dollars per week for their roles. Beyond a steady salary, many Hallmark actors like to be a part of films that, even if a bit formulaic, have positive messages. "It's just optimism. Good stories kind of get buried in the turmoil of everyday life," Kathryn Davis told The Guardian. These Hallmark stars can also be optimistic with millions to spend.

After her Hallmark debut in the 2015 film "Angel of Christmas,"Holly Robinson Peete made history alongside Lyndie Greenwood in Hallmark's first ever holiday movie celebrating both Kwanzaa and Christmas. Peete explained she celebrated Kwanzaa when she was young and wanted her own children to know about the holiday, so she jumped at the chance when Hallmark asked her to appear in the 2022 movie "Holiday Heritage." It was a great year for Peete, who also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and signed a multi-movie deal with the Hallmark Channel. All this success meant an impressive net worth of an estimated $4 million.

With some of this big money, Peete racks up airline miles, especially with Air Canada – the carrier she often used when going back and forth to Vancouver to film the original TV series "21 Jump Street." While filming the Hallmark Channel movie "A Christmas Journey," she purchased business class tickets for her visiting boys to fly home but unfortunately their famous last name didn't help as the teens were denied boarding after failing to furnish proof of payment. Peete went on Twitter to talk about her frustration and the airline ultimately reached out to the actor for the inconvenience.

Beyond spending money on flights, Peete also helps others. For example, prior to starting the HollyRod foundation with her husband, "We just started randomly paying people's drug bills, because insurance companies weren't covering them," she told Brain & Life.

After her hilarious role as Gretchen Wieners in the classic aughts film "Mean Girls," actor Lacey Chabert showed off her romantic comedic skills in her debut Hallmark Channel film "Elevator Girl" in 2010. While many actors go on to appear in multiple movies for the Hallmark Channel, Chabert took it to a whole new level, earning her the title of the "Queen of Hallmark Movies" for her performances all year long for over a decade. 

"Look, I don't take it lightly – I've done 35 movies now for Hallmark and I really consider it my mission to make each one better than the last," she told Forbes. "I feel really grateful that people choose to sit down in their living rooms for two hours and give us two hours of their time, so it's my job to make the best movie I possibly can and hopefully create a character they see themselves in," the actor added. 

Along with a long list of credits, Chabert also earned an impressive stream of income, bringing her net worth up to an estimated $4 million. Chabert spends part of her paychecks on self-care, like makeup, treatments, and even beauty machines to keep her face camera ready. The actor also admitted she likes to shop, including virtually through the Home Shopping Network. In fact, she was such a fan of HSN that it seemed like the perfect match when she later collaborated with the network to launch her own fashion line.

Expertly playing the handsome male lead, Andrew Walker has appeared in an impressive number of holiday films on the Hallmark Channel since his debut in the 2012 movie "A Bride for Christmas." Luckily, all these movies meant he could keep his stockings stuffed with plenty of cash as he is worth an estimated $2 million. With these regular paychecks, Walker has spent some of the money on doing what he loves the most outside of acting. For example, his Instagram is full of photos showing off his travels and love for the outdoors, like when he hikes with his wife Cassandra Troy Walker. In fact, the two first hit it off over a mutual admiration for outdoor adventures. "It started with a hiking trip in Mont-Tremblant followed countless small wilderness adventures, and some big trips which are always centered around being in nature," Walker captioned in a selfie with his wife.

To help fuel these hikes, the Walkers may sip their craft juices. "In 2013, we eloped and used the money we'd been saving up for a wedding to start building our dream business: bringing amazing tasting, top-quality juices to our small community," the pair explained about launching their juice business called Little West. This was more than a little side project as the couple consistently invested their money into the business. "For years, we could barely afford rent because we constantly put everything we had into keeping Little West alive," she wrote on Instagram.

Jessica Lowndes completely changed gears going from an angsty teen in the aughts version of "90210" to a holiday delight in films for the Hallmark Channel like "Christmas at Pemberley Manor." More than just acting, Lowndes also showed she has a knack for crafting these types of stories. She wrote her first film script called "Over the Moon in Love" and sold it to the Hallmark Channel, while also starring and serving as executive producer on the movie. Outside of acting, she is also a multi-talented artist who can sing, choreograph, and direct her own music videos. Lowndes even performed a rendition of "Silent Night" in support of her role in the Hallmark Channel movie "A December Bride." For this wide array of skills, Lowndes has been appropriately compensated and is worth an estimated $6 million.

With a lot of money to access, Lowndes likes to purchase items for her beauty routine. "I've always loved make-up, and when I was younger it was my way of expressing myself," she explained to the Mirror. She also invests in her own career, especially as a musician. For her 2016 song "Deja Vu (Remix)," Lowndes revealed, "I funded the entire project myself. I came up with the idea four days before Christmas break and filmed the whole thing at my friend's house on Mulholland [in Los Angeles]. I produced the video, bought all the props," she told Entertainment Weekly.

As a handsome leading man, Luke Macfarlane has made audiences swoon since he debuted with the Hallmark Channel in the 2014 movie "The Memory Book." According to Macfarlane, the scripts and his coworkers make it easy for him to appear magnetic on camera. "One thing that I really enjoyed about making Hallmark movies is it's really fun to flirt. It's fun to play that energy on camera, where relationships are at their best in those early times," he told the Los Angeles Times. "I guess Hallmark has given me a lot of flirting lessons," he added. 

Hallmark has also given him a lot of money, with many films adding to his estimated net worth of $2 million. With some of those millions, Macfarlane likes to go to hockey games. In fact, he once took his "Bros" co-star Billy Eichner to a game and treated him to prime seats right behind the goalie. As the actor remembered, "Billy goes, 'I bet we're the only people at Staples Center that are talking about 'Angels in America.' He was like, 'This is Bros. This is our movie.'" It was one of many movies with Macfarlane in a starring role, with more to come, as he signed a multi-movie deal in 2022 with Hallmark Channel's parent company. With this deal, Macfarlane could afford to purchase a more premium car than the first one he ever owned, a 1967 Buick LeSabre that cost $150.

Prior to her charming roles in Hallmark Channel movies like "A Harvest Wedding," Jill Wagner was pranking celebrities like Usher and Katie Holmes in the MTV series "Punk'd." She was also great at hosting others who punked themselves as contestants on the reality show "Wipeout." Wagner didn't wipe out when it came to money as she went on to earn an estimated $4 million dollars. Similar to many Hallmark Channel characters, Wagner saw the charm in leaving the big city lights for a rustic home life. After living in Hollywood, Wagner and her husband David relocated to a 200 acre farm in Tellico Plains, Tennessee. While the property showed promise, especially as it was in the National Historic Registry, it still took two years for the couple to make the main home livable to their standards. Fortunately, the temporary living space sounded quite nice – a log cabin elsewhere on the property. Following the renovations, Wagner revealed she loved to head into Nashville to watch live performers. "I love the music scene there ... I feel like country music is in my bones," she told The Tennessean.

In addition to spending money on live music, Wagner also likes to build her wardrobe. Generously, she also auctions off some of her pieces for charity."I do this in my cousin's honor as she beat Leukemia due to the amazing research that LLS has been able to accomplish with our donations," she wrote on her eBay site.