Hallmark's Victor Webster Has Had A Dreamy Transformation Over The Years

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Dashing fifty-something Victor Webster has spent the last decade romancing women and solving murders in a glut of picture-perfect Hallmark Channel movies, becoming one of the network's most prominent silver foxes in the process. But he first found fame in the late '90s as a fresh-faced pin-up, putting his good looks to good use as a high-end fashion model before pivoting into the crazy world of the daytime soap opera with roles in "Sunset Beach" and "Days of Our Lives."

In the years between, the Canadian racked up dozens of TV and film credits, appearing in projects ranging from "Wishmaster: The Prophecy Fulfilled" and supernatural drama "Charmed" to time-traveling sci-fi "Continuum" and the revival of "Melrose Place." But what else do we know about his journey? From martial arts exploits and multiple marriages (kinda) to revealing photo shoots and reality TV ambitions, here's a look at the hunk's dreamy transformation.

Although he took a while to pursue a career in the field properly — his screen debut came in 1998 at the age of 25 — Victor Webster developed a love of acting much earlier. Indeed, he took drama classes at both high school and college, and as a kid, he let his imagination run truly wild.

"Every day it seemed I'd be dressing up as a superhero, a secret agent, or a cowboy and I would totally go into character," the man who went on to harness this creativity in genre shows such as "Continuum," "Mutant X," and "Charmed" explained to The SciFi World. "So it's something that I loved doing from a young age, I just never thought I'd make a living of it."

However, once Webster realized that he could indeed make a living doing the thing he loved, he fully committed: "I was working with an acting coach and I really jumped in with both feet and took it very seriously because in this business you just can't just hope for the best and think you're gonna become successful, you actually have to work very hard."

While dabbling in drama throughout his childhood, Victor Webster pursued martial arts. And in a development which sounds like his early life mirrored "The Karate Kid," he was eventually taken under the wing of his very own Mr. Miyagi.

"I went through a period in my life where I felt that I was going over to the dark side," Webster, who has a black belt in Taekwondo, explained about his difficult teenage years in an interview with Animal Fair. "Then I found a very old-school martial arts instructor. It changed my life. I have always known how to fight, but I had never learned the art of it. That would be the Ying for the Yang."

Webster actually landed one of his biggest roles, Mathayus in "The Scorpion King" franchise, via a mixed martial arts demonstration in front of director Roel Reine. "A lot of people think, "Oh, I can learn how to fight,' but what you don't realize is when you're doing these fight scenes all day long, your body really gets beat up," he told CY Interview before revealing that he still continues to practice various disciplines on a regular basis.

In 2003, Victor Webster made a memorable guest appearance on "Sex and the City" as the stockbroker neighbor of Kim Cattrall's Samantha. As it turns out, the role wasn't much of a stretch. And we're not talking about how he answered the door wearing nothing but a towel.

Indeed, before pursuing a career in Hollywood, the multi-talented Webster briefly worked in the world of stocks and shares. In fact, the Canadian took on different jobs before finding fame, including construction worker, delivery man, bodyguard, and even selling ladies' shoes, while he also founded his own importing and exporting firm. Eventually, Webster realized that he needed to stop his fingers in so many different pies, as he explained to Cult Times (via LiveJournal). "One day I said to myself, 'What am I doing? This isn't what I want for my life. What I want is to be able to pretend to be all these things and more.'"

But there was at least one perk of being a stockbroker. It was far easier to maintain the six-pack he'd repeatedly show off on camera. "I wasn't traveling so I had a gym around me at all times and had a workout partner that I worked with," Webster told blog Stay Fit Anywhere (via LiveJournal). "This business is a lot different, living in hotel rooms with no gyms, on set 14 hours a day and far too much access to the craft service table."

Renowned for his smoldering good looks and six-pack physique, it's little surprise to learn that before establishing himself in Hollywood, Victor Webster was an in-demand model. Indeed, International Male, Armani, and Versace were just a few of the high-end labels he posed for back in the 1990s, while he also appeared in commercials for the likes of Vidal Sassoon and Coca-Cola.

But Webster told Mexia Daily News (via LiveJournal), this particular chapter of his life wasn't by design. "Modeling was something that I never really thought about, but when the opportunity came to do it, and I learned how well it paid, I said yes. By the time I got my black belt in Taekwondo, I realized I had also established myself as a model, which became a very important turning point in my life."

However, Webster soon became disillusioned with the industry. "It wasn't fulfilling enough," he told Visimag (via LiveJournal). And after being scouted for a role on short-lived soap opera "Sunset Beach" while working as a waiter at an Orange County restaurant, the Canadian decided it was time for another career pivot.

Following a brief stint on "Sunset Beach," Victor Webster landed a more substantial part on another daytime soap opera. In 1999, the Canadian was cast as Nicholas Alamain on "Days of Our Lives." But instead of being able to ease into the character he'd go on to play for 44 episodes, the newbie was instantly thrown into the deep end.

"... Entertainment Tonight followed me to work, on my very first day, so there was a ton of added pressure, with the camera crew following me..." Webster explained to The SciFi World. "... I was really nervous and when you watch my first couple days work you can really tell, I was really stiff, it was hard for me to get the dialog out."

Alamain later headed back to the fictional town of Salem in 2011, but as is often the case in the soap world, he had a brand new face, Cody Longo's. But the latter's untimely death in 2023 has left the door open for Webster to return. And in a chat with Michael Fairman TV, he revealed he'd be open to the idea, particularly if he could share the screen with his regular Hallmark Channel co-star and fellow "DOOL" graduate Alison Sweeney: "I would come back and do a handful of episodes. I think that would be fun."

Following guest spots on "Baywatch Nights," "V.I.P.," and "Becker," Victor Webster landed his first recurring prime-time TV role in 2001 on syndicated superhero show "Mutant X." The Canadian played Brennan Mulwray, a criminal-turned-crime fighter who can use his hands to fire electrical bolts and send him rocketing into the sky.

You might think that with his martial arts background, Webster would have had no problem with the copious amount of action scenes. But as he told SFX (via LiveJournal), fighting on screen is entirely different from fighting off it: "I had to unlearn everything I learned in order to do this ... Your kicks systematically have to be bigger, everything has to be bigger, and when you're really fighting, everything needs to be small and in-tight..."

But despite such challenges, Webster was determined to carry out all the butt-kicking himself. "I don't want to come to work and have my double do everything. I want the audience to see it's the actor doing it and not a stunt double. Not only is it creating the character's believability, but it's also much more fun for me and I really enjoy doing it."

Confirmation that Victor Webster had well and truly hit the big time came in 2002 when he was announced as one of the world's 50 Most Eligible Bachelors by People magazine. The star joined  George Clooney, Ben Affleck, and Justin Timberlake on the list just three years after making his screen debut. 

Luckily, Webster didn't appear to have a problem with the world lusting after him. In an interview for the S2 DVD release of "Mutant X," the Canadian claimed he needed all the help he could get in the world of dating. And two years previously, he'd posed for the front cover of Playgirl in nothing but his underwear!

And the saucy publication seemed particularly enamored with their latest model, who also took his clothes off as a dancer in "The Chippendale Murders," gushing (via LiveJournal), "Let's see here ... He's a Latin lover with warm, welcoming brown eyes, a blackbelt in o, a former Armani model, an animal lover, a budding Hollywood talent, a charity volunteer, he's single, and best of all: He posed in the most provocative manner for PLAYGIRL's January issue! Need we say more?"

From "Criminal Minds" and "Bones" to the "CSI" and "NCIS" franchises. Think of any prime-time crime procedural from the last 20 years, and there's a good chance it's been graced by Victor Webster. While the majority have been one-off appearances, the Canadian did get to stay for four episodes on "Castle" playing Kate Beckett's bad-boy boyfriend, Josh Davidson.

As he explained to Entertainment Weekly (via LiveJournal), Webster enjoyed getting to know his castmates more than usual, including his on-screen other half, Stana Katic. "... She was reading comic books on set, which is something you would never guess about her. We had really great chemistry on and off set, she's a really smart, beautiful woman, really talented on the show ..."

Webster also had nothing but kind words to say about the show's lead, Nathan Fillion, aka mystery writer-turned-detective Richard Castle. "Nathan is like a big kid, you can see a reflection of that in his character as well. He's very playful, and that just comes from Nathan. You know, that's just inherent in him as a person. He's always joking around, he's really smart, he's quick witted, I had a great time with him."

While Victor Webster is now more renowned for playing the romantic lead on the small screen, he's had several opportunities to play the action hero on the big screen. In 2014, for example, he got to battle various henchmen while starring alongside Steven Seagal in the direct-to-video prequel "A Good Man."

Webster played Sasha, a man forced to work for the Mafia to pay off his father's debts, who is then accused of stealing from his bosses. And the Canadian relished the chance to give Seagal a run for his money, constantly working with martial artist Ron Balicki to make his fight scenes as convincing as possible. "We spent countless hours in my backyard just coming up with choreography and our goal in this movie was to never do a technique twice ..." he told The Action Elite. "I wanted it to be very real, very gritty, and very dirty. We wanted Sasha to take a lot of punishment but still come out on top."

So what was it like spending time with the movie's famous, and sometimes infamous, leading man? Well, Webster, who also showed off his physical prowess in "The Scorpion King" sequels "Battle for Redemption" and "Quest for Power," ended up bonding with him not over their respective careers, but their shared love of music: "When we would talk it was usually about guitar. He is an incredible player." Here's a look at celebs who, in contrast, can't stand Steven Seagal. 

If you're not a regular Hallmark Channel viewer, then you may well believe that Victor Webster retired from acting a good decade ago. Indeed, apart from a recurring role on "Workin' Moms" and guest spots on "Younger" and "Chesapeake Shores," every single entry on the Canadian's resume since 2016 has been on the greetings card offshoot.

Webster has now racked up more than two dozen credits on the network including "A Christmas Cookie Catastrophe," "The Wedding Veil Journey," and several "Matchmaker Mysteries" films. But his biggest success has been playing widowed detective Chad Norton in no fewer than six instalments of the "A Hannah Swensen Mystery" franchise.

Speaking to TV Goodness about the cozy whodunnits in which he stars alongside fellow "Days of Our Lives" alum Alison Sweeney, Webster theorized about why films such as "Pie to Die For" and "Sugar and Vice" have connected so well. "... I think it's the epitome of Hallmark. It's fun. The whole family gets to sit and watch it. It's about family. You've got this great dynamic between Hannah and Chad. There's romance. It has everything for people to be able to sit down and enjoy it and then watch them over and over again."

Victor Webster no doubt broke many regular Hallmark viewers' hearts in early 2020 when he got engaged to his fellow actor girlfriend Shantel VanSanten. And the pair, who'd first met while shooting TV movie "Love Blossoms" three years earlier, further proved they'd fallen head over heels for each other by walking down the aisle together on three separate occasions.

The lovebirds first said "I do" at an impromptu ceremony at California's Pasadena City Hall in 2021 on the same date VanSanten's grandparents had tied the knot. "They were married for 63 years, had such a special, deep love," she explained to Brides about the spontaneous act which had been inspired by a tragic loss several months earlier. "They were the example to me of how love is a choice and takes work. It wasn't perfect, but their love was always pure."

The happy couple then got hitched again in Napa and then, just to make sure, for a third time in VanSanten's Minnesota hometown. "As I looked at my side, when the world felt like it was falling apart, there stood my rock, my home, my husband," the bride said, referencing the pandemic. "As there are unwritten chapters ahead, we will surely experience more hardships on this grand adventure. I couldn't be more sure we can overcome anything together." Unfortunately, this didn't prove to be the case. Here's a look at other Hallmark Channel stars married in real life. 

Just two years after getting married on three separate occasions, Victor Webster and Shantel VanSenten headed for the divorce courts. Presumably, this time, only once. And judging by the social media posts they made once the divorce was finalized, it wasn't the most amicable split.

"Once you grow up, you realize you don't want to be crazy in love," Webster reposted a quote in an Instagram Story (via People). "You want to be calm in love, stable in love, patient in love, understood in love, safe in love. Your partner should give you peace of mind and reassurance, not constant little heart attacks and high anxiety." Using the same method, VanSanten also shared a quote that didn't need much reading between the lines: "Don't allow yourself to get comfortable existing in spaces where you know you deserve better. Love is not meant to hurt."

The once-happy couple sparked headlines with an unusual custody arrangement involving their beloved dog, Nova. While Webster was appointed the sole owner without any stipulations, VanSanten was allowed to look after the canine for three weeks at a time, incurring a $10,000 fine for each day thereafter. Here's a look at some sad details about other Hallmark stars. 

Is there anything that Victor Webster can't turn his hand to? In the 2025 Hallmark Channel movie "Pie to Die For: A Hannah Swensen Mystery," his character Chad Norton took some time out from sleuthing to partake in some tango lessons with his titular partner in crime. And he proved to be impressively nimble on his feet.

Speaking to Swoon, Webster explained that his martial arts background had come in handy while mastering the routine. "Learning choreography, learning steps, doing a lot of action movies in my past, I think dancing is like that ... I think we just had a great time, and we meshed really well." So could the multi-talent find himself vying for the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy in the near future?

Well, in a chat with entertainmentNOW, Webster confirmed he'd give it a try if only to appease his goddaughter Eden: "Once a month [she asks], 'Will you go? Will you go on?' Like, I can't just snap my fingers, sweetheart, and then be on "Dancing with the Stars." But if somebody asked me to do it? For her, I would."