Hallmark Stars Who Can Actually Sing

It is no secret that a lot of Hollywood actors have strong singing chops, and we are not even referring to those who actually put out music. From Kate Hudson to Kate Winslet to a lot of other people not named Kate, there is a plethora of musical talent just sitting there in Hollywood not being utilized unless for the right acting project. It turns out, that is the case with the Hallmark Channel (and its offshoots) as well — there are many Hallmark stars who can hold a tune, and some of them have even been able to show off their skill in Hallmark projects. Certain Hallmark actors even have a whole second career as singers and musicians, and singing is how a few of them were discovered in the first place.

On this list, we focused in on those Hallmark stars who have been in multiple projects for the network, and who are first and foremost associated with acting. That means we left off all of the big-name singers who have popped up in movies for the channel, including Mariah Carey in "A Christmas Melody," Patti Labelle in "Christmas Everlasting," and Dolly Parton in "Christmas at Dollywood." Harry Connick Jr., Jordin Sparks, Kristen Chenowith and Aaron Tveit were also cut for this reason. Plus, most of those individuals have only been in one Hallmark film. Here are 20 Hallmark stars who can actually sing.

Lacey Chabert is often referred to as the "Queen of Hallmark Movies," and for good reason, as she has appeared in 35 Hallmark films to date. Upon celebrating her 30th Hallmark movie in 2022, Chabert told The Oakland Press that she never could have imagined what was to come back when she took on her first role for Hallmark, in "Elevator Girl" in 2010. Also in 2022, Chabert signed a big multi-picture overall deal with Crown Media Family Networks, the company that owns the Hallmark properties. "My experience at Hallmark, a home to me for over ten years now, has been wonderful and it's beyond rewarding to create characters and develop stories that resonate so strongly with viewers," Chabert said in a press release (via Variety).

Those of us of a certain generation first noticed Chabert when she played youngest daughter Claudia Salinger on "Party of Five," which is how she rose to worldwide fame. But before that, Chabert actually had a career in musical theatre — so, yes, she can sing. On an episode of "LIVE With Kelly and Ryan," Chabert told the hosts that she began professionally acting at age seven, and that she played Cosette in a Broadway production of "Les Miserables" as a young child. She was also on "Star Search" (in 1991, at age nine) and provided the singing voice for the young version of the title character in the animated film "Anastasia." Though she has not done much professional singing post-puberty, Chabert clearly has the chops for a Hallmark musical.

Many people who only know Jessy Schram from her work on Hallmark were surprised when Schram showed off her spectacular set of pipes in the TV film, "Country at Heart." In the film, she plays a country music songwriter who falls in love with another songwriter while creating a hit for a big country star. But in real life, Schram is the one who should be the big country star. This is perhaps most evident through Schram's appearances on the series "Nashville," where she played a singer-songwriter named Cash Gray. Check out her performance of "If You Don't Mean Business," and you will see what we mean.

Most recently, Schram has been starring as Dr. Hannah Asher on the hit series "Chicago Med," but her IMDb is dominated by Hallmark projects. She had only one screen credit to her name when she made her first appearance in the "Jane Doe" series of Hallmark Channel films, and she was in all nine of these TV movies. Schram has also appeared in multiple other Hallmark films, including a fair number of Christmas movies. These include "Road to Christmas," "A Nashville Christmas Carol," and her last one (in 2021), "Time for Them to Come Home for Christmas" — which definitely could have used a catchier, shorter title.

People freaked out when Chyler Leigh's character, Kat Landry, performed a karaoke cover of Alanis Morrissette's "You Oughta Know" on the Hallmark Channel series "The Way Home," to the point where it even made People magazine's website. But true fans of Leigh already knew the actor could throw down behind a microphone, which was made evident when she performed "Breathe" in the very memorable musical episode of "Grey's Anatomy" back in 2011. There are also plenty of videos of Leigh singing on YouTube, including ones where she is on stage with East of Eli (a.k.a. Nathan West, Leigh's husband) — with whom she tours — and more low-key one's filmed at home, like the Instagram Live singing session she did with West in 2020.

Though she has a wonderful voice, Leigh is still predominantly known for her acting. She became famous when she played the lead role of Janey Briggs in the spoof movie "Not Another Teen Movie," and has since gone on to win fans with her work on shows like "That '80s Show," "Reunion," "Supergirl," and of course, "Grey's Anatomy." She currently stars in "The Way Home," a Hallmark Channel original series that started in January 2023 and said the aforementioned karaoke scene was "unbelievably intimidating." "I had an hour, if that, in the recording studio in between scenes and fittings to run and actually go record. And there wasn't anybody there except the mixers," she said. "So there's no guidance, you're just singing it to the wind and see what happens."

Tamera Mowry-Housley has been famous for what feels like forever, since she was only a young teen when she and twin sister Tia Mowry had their own ABC show "Sister, Sister." In the years since, Mowry-Housley has proven herself as an accomplished actor and host, but it was not until she cropped up on "The Masked Singer" that we knew she could sing. Mowry-Housley — who was underneath the Seashell costume — appeared on Season 5 of the hit reality series. She had sung on screen before — even covering "I'm Going Down" on "Sister, Sister" way back when — but it was easy to forget she could sing, especially once she became a host on "The Real."

As an adult actor, Mowry-Housely has had main roles on series such as "Strong Medicine" and "Roommates," and appeared in a handful of feature films. She has also established herself as a Hallmark Channel staple, even signing an overall deal with Crown Media in 2020 (per Deadline). Though she started making TV films years before, Mowry-Housely's first one for Hallmark came in 2019, when she appeared in "A Christmas Miracle" for Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. She has since starred in a handful of other films under the Hallmark umbrella and will star in a musical for them called "Dream Moms," due out May 2023. Mowry-Housely has also continued her work as a TV host and personality since leaving "The Real," including a stint as a lifestyle expert on Hallmark Channel's "Home & Family."

Alicia Witt had a thriving career well before she became a Hallmark Channel darling, and that included both acting and music. Witt began acting as a child and first earned notoriety for playing Cybill Shepherd's daughter Zoey Woodbine on the Chuck Lorre series "Cybill." She then went on to appear in movies such as "Urban Legends" and "Mr. Holland's Opus," while keeping a strong presence on television in series like "Friday Night Lights," "Justified," and "Orange is the New Black." Witt also had a multi-episode guest arc on "Nashville," where she showed off her musical talent — but this was far from her first foray into music.

Witt has been creating music for decades and was even referred to as a "child prodigy" with exceptional piano skills in a 1987 Los Angeles Times article. As an adult, she has released a multitude of independent albums including "The Conduit" and "15,000 Days," and her YouTube channel is filled with official videos, live performances, and other singing vids. As a Hallmark Channel star, Witt does not always sing in her projects, but she did show off her voice in the film "I'm Not Ready for Christmas." Some of her other titles for the channel include "Christmas on Honeysuckle Lane" and "The Misletoe Inn." While Witt has made more than a handful of TV movies for Hallmark, but told a fan on Twitter, in December 2022, that she had not received an offer from them for a while due to "oversight."

Jessica Lowndes was one of the big Hallmark stars who jumped ship to competitor Great American Family in 2022, signing a four-picture deal to act in, write, produce, and direct (per Deadline). This departure came after half a dozen projects with Hallmark, beginning with 2015's "Merry Matrimony" and ending with 2021's "Mix Up in the Mediterranean." While her TV movies have focused mostly on her acting, Lowndes has shown off her stellar singing voice in on Hallmark, including performing a version of "Silent Night" for the movie "A December Bride." Now that she is at GAC and has a role behind the scenes, Lowndes singing has been front and center in films such as "Harmony for the Heart," where she duets with Jesse Metcalfe.

We first became acquainted with Lowndes musical talent when she played Adrianna Tate-Duncan on the CW's "90210," which often featured her character singing. Since that time, she has made multiple attempts at a recording career, releasing two EPs (in 2012 and 2013) and a variety of non-album singles. Though she has not taken off big with her music, Lowndes has kept busy with plenty of acting gigs — appearing in films like "The Price" and "Larry Gaye: Renegade Male Flight Attendant," in addition to plenty of TV movies and guest appearances.

The first time we heard Jessica Lowndes sing, her character Adrianna was performing "Mama Who Bore Me," from "Spring Awakening," on an episode of "90210." And who was her character up against for the role? None other than Annie Wilson, played by leading lady Shenae Grimes-Beech. That is also when we first learned Grimes-Beech had musical talent and, since both ladies landed at Hallmark later on, Grimes-Beech had to be on our list as well. Unlike Lowndes, Grimes has not made a real go of it as a singer, but she did make one music video for a song called "Myself and I" back in 2010. We are not saying it is bad — but maybe don't rush to watch it.

Grimes-Beech has not worked as much as one would expect since "90210" ended in 2013, but she has appeared in a couple of films and starred on the one-season Canadian show "The Detail." Most of the work she has done in the last decade, however, has been TV movies, and many of them have been for Hallmark. Her first Hallmark Channel movie was 2015's "Christmas Incorporated," which was followed by "Sandra Brown's White Hot" for Hallmark Movies & Mysteries the following year. She has since made a few other films for the company, with the last one being "When I Think of Christmas" in 2022.

Autumn Reeser is another one of those actors who is basically Hallmark royalty at this point. You may know Reeser from her breakout role as Taylor Townsend on "The O.C.," or from her work on series such as "Entourage," "The Arrangement," "Hawaii 5-0," and many others. But at this point, Reeser is perhaps better known for her Hallmark movies than anything else, if only because of the sheer number of them. Reeser has appeared in a whopping 19 TV movies for the Hallmark family of channels — and shows no signs of slowing down. She is an integral part of the "Wedding Veil" series, and has plenty of one-off Hallmark rom-coms under her belt, including a fair number of Christmas ones.

Reeser began her relationship with Hallmark in 2012, with "Love at the Thanksgiving Day Parade," but her TV movies have not stopped her from taking on plenty of other acting gigs. Nor have they stopped her from pursuing another creative passion: singing. According to her website, Reeser studied voice and dance (amongst other things) when she was a theatre student at UCLA and started doing musical theatre long before that. She also showcases her musical talent in live shows across the Los Angeles area. For instance, there are YouTube videos of her performing in a stage show called "For the Record: Tarantino," and she has advertised many of her live performances at places like the now-closed Rockwell Table & Stage on her Instagram over the years.

The world fell for James Denton when he shot to fame as hunky Mike Delfino on "Desperate Housewives" in 2004, though he had been working in Hollywood for over a decade at that point. The man is now 60 and still hunky, which makes him a great fit for a Hallmark leading man. Not only has Denton made a couple of TV movies for the network — including "A Kiss Before Christmas," where he co-starred with his "Desperate Housewives" leading lady Teri Hatcher — but he also starred on the Hallmark original series "The Good Witch" from 2015 to 2021.

One of Denton's Hallmark projects is especially relevant, and that is the film "Perfect Harmony." In this project, Denton appeared alongside his real-life son for the second time, and he also gets to show off his strong pipes. Denton plays a formerly famous one-hit wonder in the movie, which he also helped produce, but told TV Guide that he is "not a singer." "Thank God for pitch correction," he said. "I can get by. The trick is to be so synced that people buy it. All the guitar is me. All the singing is Sherri (Saum) and myself but I definitely feel better if we can lay it down before and get it sweetened a little bit." We think Denton was being modest, since he sounded great, but at the very least he is a pro guitar player — he even plays in the celebrity charity cover band, "Band From TV."

We perhaps could have lumped Lauren Alaina into the "musicians who dabble in acting" category, but since she now has two Hallmark Channel movies under her belt (and since she is far less famous than, say, Dolly Parton), we figured she qualified for this list. Alaina is most famous for being the runner-up on Season 10 of "American Idol," and she has had moderate success on country radio, but has not taken off the way that top contestants have. That may be why she has opened the door to both reality television — Alaina appeared on the celebrity survivalist series "Beyond the Edge" — and acting. And we are not mad at it.

Alaina's first Hallmark film was "Road Less Traveled," which was released in 2017. She played a country music singer — huge stretch! — who returns to Tennessee and reunites with an old flame one week before her wedding. Not so coincidentally, Alaina released an album with that same name around the same time. Four years later, Alaina returned to Hallmark for "Roadhouse Romance," where her character once again returns home, this time from military deployment. Alaina sings in both films, and two of the songs in "Roadhouse Romance" appeared on her 2021 album, "Sitting Pretty on Top of the World."

Carlos PenaVega and his wife Alexa PenaVega are maybe one of the cutest couples in Hollywood or, at the very least, on the Hallmark Channel. Per Deadline, both husband and wife signed a multi-picture overall deal with Crown Media toward the end of 2022. They have appeared opposite one another in a variety of Hallmark projects, including the "Picture Perfect Mysteries" films, "Enchanted Christmas," and "Love in the Limelight." While Alexa has made multiple movies on her own, Carlos has appeared in only one Hallmark title without his spouse ("A Midnight Kiss"). While most of his films are not musical, Carlos wrote six original songs for his role in "Love in the Limelight," which showcases his incredible singing talent.

None of this will come as a surprise to anyone who is familiar with PenaVega's rise to fame. He started acting as a teen, and achieved great success as a member of the band Big Time Rush, which had its own Nickelodeon show for four seasons. The band released multiple albums and had a couple of moderate hits, but went on a hiatus shortly after the end of their show. In 2021, Big Time Rush announced that they had officially reunited, and that they were going out on tour (per The Los Angeles Times). And who knows, maybe we will get all four band members in a Hallmark movie one of these days.

We are actually a little surprised that the Hallmark Channel has not tapped more "Glee" alumni to appear in their content, considering the deepness of that pool of talent and the sad fact that a lot of the show's stars are tragically underemployed. But at least one "Glee" alumnus has put her stamp on Hallmark, and that person is Becca Tobin. Per The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the multi-talented Tobin started in musical theatre when she was just a kid, but it was not until she was cast as mean girl Kitty Wilde in "Glee" that she gained any substantial recognition. Since "Glee," Tobin has established herself as one third of the very popular "LadyGang" brand (led by its podcast), and she has continued to act.

While Tobin's post-"Glee" acting resume is somewhat sparse, she did have a recurring role on the television series "Turner & Hooch" and make a one-off guest appearance on "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist," where she sang in her scene. The bulk of her credits, however, are Hallmark TV movies, such as "Sister of the Bride" and "Love at First Dance." Tobin even showed off her singing in the Hallmark film "A Song for Christmas," a 2017 project where she played a country music star. Tobin's duet of "Christmas Morning," which she performed with co-star Kevin McGarry, is one of the film's highlights and the perfect showcase for her angelic voice.

Luke Bryan is one of the biggest country singers in the world. Lucas Bryant is — well, not Luke Bryan. He is an actor who just happens to have a pretty rocking voice, and who has shown it off on the Hallmark Channel, where he has become a recurring player. Bryant's relationship with Crown Media began in 2012 with "Merry In-Laws," with is available on Hallmark Movies Now. He subsequently went on to star in a variety of TV movies for the company, including "Time for You to Come Home for Christmas," "Tulips in Spring," and "Summer Love." His latest, "Five More Minutes: Moments Like These," aired on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries in 2022.

Fans of Hallmark have known Bryant could act since his first film, but many were surprised to learn that Bryant also has quite a nice singing voice. He showcased his singing when he appeared in "Country at Heart," where he played a famous country singer named Duke Sterling. The movie came out during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when people were stuck at home, so the three main stars put on a full concert special from home, wherein they performed all of the music from the film. In addition to singing in the special, Bryant showed off his guitar playing skills and showcased a whole lot of charm.

Lucas Bryant was not the only Hallmark stud to appear in "Country at Heart" opposite Jessy Schram, who is also on our list. In fact, while Bryant played a famous singer in the film, it was Niall Matter who played the songwriter who stole the heart of his writing partner, played by Schram. It was a role perfect for Matter, who proved he can both sing and play the guitar just as well as he can act. It is just a shame that Matter does not show off those musical chops in every Hallmark project, since he is one of their most prominent leading men and has appeared in a ton of TV movies since making his Hallmark debut with 2016's "Stop the Wedding."

Matter's other Hallmark films include "Engaging Father Christmas" and "Love at First Dance," as well as the "Aurora Teagarden Mysteries" movies. He has also appeared in five episodes of Hallmark's series "When Calls the Heart," but none of these projects made it clear that Matter could actually sing. It turns out, it is a skill that just needed some nurturing. "As a kid, I would sing with my dad, because he's a great country singer. He's a truck driver [and] when I would go with him in the truck, he would be singing and I'd sing along," Matter told TV Goodness. "I clearly have a country voice because of how my vocal cords were trained as a kid. I guess that was doable and workable for them."

With his talent and charm, it is no surprise that Michael Rady has become one of Hallmark's most in-demand leading men. The handsome actor's first on-screen role was as the Greek love interest of one of the main characters in "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," back in 2005. He has kept very busy in the years since, most notably in television where he has appeared in a main role on variety of series including "Emily Owens, M.D.," "Intelligence," and "UNreal," and in a recurring capacity on everything from "Jane the Virgin" to "Chicago Med." But lucky for Hallmark fans, Rady has been able to squeeze quite a few TV movies into his busy schedule.

Rady's first Hallmark film was "Cloudy With a Chance of Love," which aired in 2015, and he has since appeared in nine other projects for the Hallmark family of channels. In one film, "A Joyous Christmas," Rady was able to show off his singing and piano playing skills to the world for the first time — which feels like it was a long time coming for an actor was has called musical theatre his "first love" (per the Hallmarkies Podcast). "As a kid, when all my friends were watching scary movies, I was watching musicals," he said on the podcast. Now that we have heard Rady's beautiful vocal chops, we are anxiously awaiting the next time Hallmark casts him in a role requiring a song or two.

Jesse Metcalfe was already out of his teens when he began portraying Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald on the wacky soap opera "Passions" in 1999, and he was in his mid-20s when he became a megastar sensation thanks to his role as a hunky teenage gardener who beds an older lady on "Desperate Housewives," which made its debut in 2004 and was a huge hit. After that, Metcalfe went on to appear in films — most notably "John Tucker Must Die" — and in television series like "Chase" and "Dallas," but his career never made the kind of waves many assumed were destined.

But Metcalfe has had a whole career resurgence thanks to his work at Hallmark, which has proven that he still has both the looks and charisma to be a leading man, as well as the talent. His first project for Hallmark was 2010's "Fairfield Road," and he has appeared in a number of other TV movies since including "Christmas Under the Stars" and "Martha's Vineyard Mysteries." He also starred on the Hallmark original series "Chesapeake Shores" from 2016 to 2021, where he showcased not only his acting but also his music. Per TV Insider, Metcalfe was excited to have some of his songs featured in one of his acting projects, since he had been writing music for years. Many of Metcalfe's original songs were used in the show, including "Begin Again," and "Sleeping All Alone." His beautiful song "Cowboy Rides Away" was also featured in the 2015 Hallmark TV movie "A Country Wedding."

While many people would classify Bethany Joy Lenz as primarily an actor, Lenz is also a very talented singer. Her vocal talent will not come as a surprise to fans of the star's work, since she has been able to showcase her skills on screen many times, but the fact that she has a rather large discography and was even once signed to Epic Records, per MTV News, may surprise some. The MTV News article also notes that Lenz studied music at the Brooklyn College of Opera, and that she plays multiple instruments, so we are talking about real talent here. But again, no surprise for fans since Lenz even sang in her breakthrough role, back when she played Haley James on the WB (then CW) show "One Tree Hill."

"She was standing in the corner of the set singing — in a parking garage with really good acoustics! She has an incredible voice, one of those voices that you hear and you think that person should be on Broadway. Why's she wasting her time acting?," said the show's creator Mark Schwan in a "TODAY" interview. Because of her talent, Schwan worked music into the trajectory of Lenz's character. After "One Tree Hill," Lenz continued both acting and music, putting out four albums (the one with Epic went unreleased) and many EPs, and for a time singing with the band Everly. Her work with Hallmark has included many TV movies such as "An Unexpected Christmas," "Just My Type," and "A Valentine's Match."

Like Jessy Schram and Alicia Witt, Chaley Rose is another Hallmark star who appeared on the television series "Nashville." That is where we first noticed Rose's impeccable singing skills, beginning with her first appearance on the show in Zoey Dalton in the show's second season. Rose's character was a key part of the show for a couple of years, and she is featured on five "Nashville" soundtracks. She also put out her own song, "Life is Sweet," available on Spotify, in 2018, though it did not achieve success. Per a biography on the Hallmark Channel's website, Rose has performed in many esteemed music venues including The Troubador in Los Angeles and at Nashville's prestigious Grand Ole Opry.

Rose is not yet a Hallmark staple, but she may very well become one. She has starred in multiple projects for Hallmark, including "My Best Friends Bouquet" and "A Christmas Duet." In the latter film, Rose was able to showcase her voice opposite the equally talented singer Rome Flynn, best known for his work on "How to Get Away with Murder." The TV movie aired as part of the channel's "Countdown to Christmas" programming in December 2019, with the premise of a pop duo reigniting at a small inn. "I think for both of us, we love music probably as much as we love acting, so that was in it when we recorded (the music)," Rose said in a Home & Family interview. "We're really excited to perform together."

If you love Broadway, then you probably know Laura Osnes for her heavenly voice in addition to her acting. But if you don't follow the theatre, you may perhaps recognize Osnes from her Hallmark projects. Her first TV movie for Hallmark was 2019's "A Homecoming for the Holidays," where she did not stray far from her musical roots by playing a country singer. She also played a singer in 2020's "In the Key of Love," and "One Royal Holiday," where she starred opposite fellow Tony nominee Aaron Tveit. Osnes has two additional Hallmark projects where she does not play a singer on her resume as well, though one of them ("Christmas in Tahoe") does revolve around a singer.

Osnes' talent was first noticed when she was a contestant on the reality competition show "Grease: You're the One That I Want" in 2007. Upon being crowned the female winner (there was also a male winner), Osnes was awarded the lead role of Sandy Dumbrowski in a Broadway revival of "Grease." She has since starred in many high-profile stage musicals including "Anything Goes," "Cinderella," and "Bonnie & Clyde," the last two of which earned her Tony Award nominations amongst other accolades. Osnes has been featured on many cast soundtracks, and has recorded multiple solo EPs including "On the Other Side – Part 1," released in 2022.

Josh Henderson may have become better known because of his acting roles, but his first brush with fame actually came back in 2001, when he appeared on the WB singing competition series "Popstars 2." Henderson made it all the way to the end and was chosen to be a member of a band, Scene 23, but the group never went anywhere after putting out one album of music from their time on the show. Henderson is the only group member to go on and establish himself in Hollywood, but that had a lot more to do with his acting and modeling than music.

Henderson is best known for his work in television, with roles on series such as "Desperate Housewives," "The Arrangement," and the 2012 "Dallas" reboot. He has also appeared in some films — most notably, "Step Up" — and even sang in one of them, a small project called "The Jerk Theory" (the tracks are on Spotify, if you are so inclined to check them out). He is not exactly a Hallmark staple, having appeared in only one film for the network, but given the movie's focus on singing, we had to give Henderson a place on our list. Henderson expertly sang in 2018's "Time for Me to Come Home for Christmas," including a cover of Blake Shelton's "Time for Me to Come Home," on which the film is based. Henderson periodically posts singing videos on his YouTube channel, and he released a video for his song "LOTTA LOVE" in 2022.