Paul Campbell has been entertaining Hallmark audiences for years, starring in more than a dozen movies for the network. In 2022 he headlined Dating the Delaneys with Rachel Boston and Three Wise Men and a Baby with Andrew Walker and Tyler Hynes.
But the Canadian actor is more than just a handsome face. Here are some fascinating facts about the star:
1. He trained to be a carpenter.
In a 2018 interview on My Devotional Thoughts, Campbell said he always thought he would work as a carpenter.
“Through my entire adolescence and throughout high school, I was planning to build houses,” he said. “I just loved the idea of building houses, and I honestly, I didn’t consider any other profession.”
But after graduating from high school and working as a professional for four years, Campbell changed his mind. He said he remembered thinking, “This isn’t the job that I thought it was.”
He ended up taking an acting class and quickly fell in love. While attending theater school, he was spotted by an agent who signed him after graduation. In 2004, he booked the role of Billy Keikeya on the re-boot of Battlestar Galactica. He went on to have roles in The Dead Zone, John Doe, Black Sash, Andromeda, Scrubs, and Knight Rider.
He booked his first Hallmark movie, Window Wonderland, in 2013. The rest, as they say, is history.
2. Before he joined the network, he had never seen a Hallmark movie.
Campbell, who grew up in White Rock, British Columbia, said he didn’t know much about Hallmark before he began working for the network.
“I had an awareness of what the Hallmark network was,” he said. “Even before I started working with them, they had set up shop in Vancouver and were producing a fair amount of films. But I didn’t really get a sense of the volume they were producing or the tone, quality, and style until I actually did Window Wonderland.”
3. He is now a ride-or-die Hallmark fan
Window Wonderland premiered in 2013. Campbell followed up with the Hallmark movies Surprised By Love in 2014 and Once Upon A Holiday in 2015.
“Once I got a sense of what Hallmark was all about, I was hooked,” he said. “I wanted to do more and more and more.”
He said he especially loves the content now that he is a father.
“Hallmark Channel is the perfect place for me to be working right now,” he said. “I really like the content, and now that I have a family, it’s a nice sort of pleasant content where I don’t have to worry about racy, questionable stuff. It’s definitely the direction that I feel I’m headed. I’m always open to doing movies or series with Hallmark, whatever they have for me. I would always jump at the chance.”
4. He is a skilled screenwriter.
Campbell decided to try his hand at screenwriting after the birth of his son, Kingston. He had taken some time off from acting and ended up pitching an idea to Hallmark about a romantic comedy set on a beach. His idea was made into the 2017 movie Sun, Sand & Romance, which he starred in with his former Battlestar Galactica castmate Tricia Helfer.
He went on to write Christmas by Starlight, which he also starred in, as well as An Unexpected Christmas, which starred Bethany Joy Lenz and Tyler Hynes, and Christmas at Castle Hart, which starred Lacey Chabert and Stuart Townsend.
5. He co-wrote the Countdown to Christmas hit Three Wise Men and a Baby
Campbell and his Christmas by Starlight co-star Kimberley Sustad had been writing together for years when Hallmark approached them with the idea for Three Wise Men and a Baby.
“They kind of planted the seed and then [Kimberley] and I grew the tree,” he said in an interview with Media Village.
Three Wise Men and a Baby, which premiered during Hallmark’s 2022 Countdown to Christmas event, went on to become the most-watched cable movie of the year.
6. He has been happily married since 2009.
Campbell and Lori Metz, a divorce and life coach, eloped in Vancouver in 2009. They followed the private affair with a celebration in Palm Springs two years later with friends and family.
In an Instagram post, Campbell shared photos from his wedding day including a snap of the two on a tandem bike.
“I’ll ride that two-seater with ya anywhere the durned wind takes us,” he wrote in the caption. “I love you.”
7. He had a podcast called Two Pauls in a Podcast. It was awesome.
Paul Greene was Campbell’s first guest on the series. (Episodes are still on his website.) During the show, the pair revealed their unlikely connection. It turned out Lori once dated a man who is not only best friends with Greene but is his son Oliver’s godfather. Lori even attended Greene’s first wedding.
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Paul Campbell has been entertaining Hallmark audiences for years, starring in more than a dozen movies for the network. In 2022 he headlined Dating the Delaneys with Rachel Boston and Three Wise Men and a Baby with Andrew Walker and Tyler Hynes.
But the Canadian actor is more than just a handsome face. Here are some fascinating facts about the star:
1. He trained to be a carpenter.
In a 2018 interview on My Devotional Thoughts, Campbell said he always thought he would work as a carpenter.
“Through my entire adolescence and throughout high school, I was planning to build houses,” he said. “I just loved the idea of building houses, and I honestly, I didn’t consider any other profession.”
But after graduating from high school and working as a professional for four years, Campbell changed his mind. He said he remembered thinking, “This isn’t the job that I thought it was.”
He ended up taking an acting class and quickly fell in love. While attending theater school, he was spotted by an agent who signed him after graduation. In 2004, he booked the role of Billy Keikeya on the re-boot of Battlestar Galactica. He went on to have roles in The Dead Zone, John Doe, Black Sash, Andromeda, Scrubs, and Knight Rider.
He booked his first Hallmark movie, Window Wonderland, in 2013. The rest, as they say, is history.
2. Before he joined the network, he had never seen a Hallmark movie.
Campbell, who grew up in White Rock, British Columbia, said he didn’t know much about Hallmark before he began working for the network.
“I had an awareness of what the Hallmark network was,” he said. “Even before I started working with them, they had set up shop in Vancouver and were producing a fair amount of films. But I didn’t really get a sense of the volume they were producing or the tone, quality, and style until I actually did Window Wonderland.”
3. He is now a ride-or-die Hallmark fan
Window Wonderland premiered in 2013. Campbell followed up with the Hallmark movies Surprised By Love in 2014 and Once Upon A Holiday in 2015.
“Once I got a sense of what Hallmark was all about, I was hooked,” he said. “I wanted to do more and more and more.”
He said he especially loves the content now that he is a father.
“Hallmark Channel is the perfect place for me to be working right now,” he said. “I really like the content, and now that I have a family, it’s a nice sort of pleasant content where I don’t have to worry about racy, questionable stuff. It’s definitely the direction that I feel I’m headed. I’m always open to doing movies or series with Hallmark, whatever they have for me. I would always jump at the chance.”
4. He is a skilled screenwriter.
Campbell decided to try his hand at screenwriting after the birth of his son, Kingston. He had taken some time off from acting and ended up pitching an idea to Hallmark about a romantic comedy set on a beach. His idea was made into the 2017 movie Sun, Sand & Romance, which he starred in with his former Battlestar Galactica castmate Tricia Helfer.
He went on to write Christmas by Starlight, which he also starred in, as well as An Unexpected Christmas, which starred Bethany Joy Lenz and Tyler Hynes, and Christmas at Castle Hart, which starred Lacey Chabert and Stuart Townsend.
5. He co-wrote the Countdown to Christmas hit Three Wise Men and a Baby
Campbell and his Christmas by Starlight co-star Kimberley Sustad had been writing together for years when Hallmark approached them with the idea for Three Wise Men and a Baby.
“They kind of planted the seed and then [Kimberley] and I grew the tree,” he said in an interview with Media Village.
Three Wise Men and a Baby, which premiered during Hallmark’s 2022 Countdown to Christmas event, went on to become the most-watched cable movie of the year.
6. He has been happily married since 2009.
Campbell and Lori Metz, a divorce and life coach, eloped in Vancouver in 2009. They followed the private affair with a celebration in Palm Springs two years later with friends and family.
In an Instagram post, Campbell shared photos from his wedding day including a snap of the two on a tandem bike.
“I’ll ride that two-seater with ya anywhere the durned wind takes us,” he wrote in the caption. “I love you.”
7. He had a podcast called Two Pauls in a Podcast. It was awesome.
Paul Greene was Campbell’s first guest on the series. (Episodes are still on his website.) During the show, the pair revealed their unlikely connection. It turned out Lori once dated a man who is not only best friends with Greene but is his son Oliver’s godfather. Lori even attended Greene’s first wedding.