Hallmark For All Seasons

My posts on this website have never made it a secret of how much I adore Kristoffer Polaha. I first wrote about him in 2018 when he was kind enough to respond to one of my posts on Twitter. Then for fun I began a “Six Degrees of Kris Polaha” on most of my movie posts, connecting other actors to him through their movies. I had the good fortune of talking to him on the phone very briefly in 2019 thanks to the Deck the Hallmark boys. Then he began following me and interacting with me on Twitter. In short, with every additional interaction I found him to be completely approachable, friendly, engaged and easy to talk to.

When I began taking this site more seriously as a legitimate endeavor versus an entertaining hobby, I wrote a short list of Hallmark folks I’d love to interview. And guess who was at the top of the list? Yep, you guessed it. But I wanted to wait until the perfect time – and it seems that now is that time. He had a small but pivotal role in “Wonder Woman 1984,” he’s appearing in another chapter of the “Mystery 101” series on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries next month, he has delved into writing AND still creating his own projects in between. He is tireless in his pursuit of excellence and we as his fans are all benefitting from it.

I thoroughly appreciated the fact that he took time to talk to me, and enjoyed our conversation. I hope you enjoy it as well.

* * * *Jane: I do want to start at the beginning, because you have said in interviews that you auditioned for a school play when you were in high school, and then you fell in love with acting as a result of getting a role in that play. What made you look at theater and say, “Yeah, I’ll give it a shot. I’ll try out for a play.”

Kristoffer: I’ll tell you, it wasn’t a “what,” it was a “who.” There was a man named Hamish Tyler, and he was the high school theater director. In addition to theater, he was the football coach. So he was this big guy’s guy, but he had this artistic sentiment. He approached me in my freshmen fall semester, and asked, “Do you act?” He just approached me.

I went to boarding school, by the way. When I was a kid in Reno and my best friend Graham, whose mother was British, was at boarding school. I don’t know why the British had such a strong impact on me as a kid, but she was accustomed to sending her kids off to boarding schools. My parents were not, so I was the one who said, “I want to go to boarding school.”

I was from Reno, and I love Reno. I think Reno is a great little city, but there is a bit of the old, small town mentality, where if you grew up in Reno and go to Reno High and go to University of Reno, then you tend to stay in Reno and you tend to make your life in Reno. And there’s nothing wrong with that at all. In fact, a majority of my friends, and my family, are still in Reno and I love going back, but for me personally, I wanted more.

A part of why I wanted to go to boarding school was, I remember thinking at the time, “[my dad] left at 16, I’ll leave at 14.” But I was miserable at boarding school. I hated it. I was homesick. I got on the phone every single night and cried to my mom. I was not doing well. And Hamish Tyler was the one guy who reached out and said, “If you’re interested, you should come in and take the classes.” I was standing there with a buddy of mine named Nick and he said it to both of us.

I had acted prior – I was Peter Pan in a sixth-grade school play. And I was Christopher Robin in the first-grade play. I remember I had this little line, “It looks like rain.” and my teacher was so sweet. She came up afterwards and she said, “I was standing all the way in the back of the cafeteria/theater. And yours was the only line I heard.”

I had nods of affirmation that I’d received specifically from the theater. So now cut to freshman year in high school. I’m homesick, I’m not thriving. and I’m given an ultimatum by the headmaster. He said, “Get involved in something after school and get your GPA up, set some goals for yourself.” So in February of that school year, tryouts for Streetcar Named Desire happened, I auditioned and got the role of Steve Hubble, which is the upstairs neighbor. And the other kids in the play – they were deadly serious about acting. And all of a sudden, I was this freshman in a world of people who were taking it very, very seriously.

I just fell in love with it. So, really, it was Hamish Tyler who approached me that fall and said, “Hey, look, if you’re interested, there’s a place for you.” He was infused with all this passion and inspiration, and it was an amazing program. It was rocket fuel for my career. When I got into his acting class, he recognized something in me.

It was just amazing and it taught me how to be a student. It gave me a sense of leadership. I remember these upperclassmen saw me that freshman year in Streetcar. And it flipped – the minute I did that, I had respect. I had girls looking at me for the first time, thinking I was cute. And it was great belonging to a community.

Jane: And then clearly because of that, boarding school ended up being a great experience because you found your place.

Kristoffer: Yeah, I really did. And that’s the heart of the Polaha Chautauqua that I’ve been doing, which is about finding your purpose within your community, and what makes you tick, and what makes you feel like you belong. I love acting to this day and I feel so blessed to be able to do what I do for a living.

Jane: Well, let’s go ahead and talk about the Polaha Chautauqua. You started that as a way to connect with people at the beginning of the COVID shutdown, but it has really blossomed into this wonderful place for people to gather. You pick a topic and that way people can actually come prepared with things to share, and it’s kind of become part therapy, part Bible study, part inspiration. I mean, people look forward to the Polaha Chautauqua each week. Did you ever imagine, when you randomly hopped onto Instagram Live and said, “Hey, everybody let’s chat,” that it would turn into such an endeavor?

Kristoffer: I’m smiling from ear to ear as you’re talking about it, because it truly has given me so much joy and pleasure, and it’s been this unbelievably unexpected, creative output. March 17th was the first Friday I went on and said hello to people. I remember earlier that week, Liz Tigelaar, who created “Life Unexpected,” posted on her Instagram that the Indigo Girls were going live. Those two women were just sitting in the living room, playing music for people. And I remember wanting to reach out and talk to people. I didn’t know what to expect, but within the first week or two, I asked viewers to come on and sing and share.

Jane: And people did!

Kristoffer: People did. Then I realized that for my own sake, instead of just winging it, it was better for me to have a topic. Then I did Tim Tebow’s Hope in Hopeless Times. And then when people joined on afterwards, there was something really special about having been on a show with Tim Tebow. And I always knew that [actor] Rainn Wilson was going to come on and give a commencement speech to the class of 2020.

You mentioned it being a Bible study. I just wanted to start talking about the fruits of the Holy Spirit. But I wanted to talk about them as the very nature of like, what does patience mean to you? What does love mean? All to combat this fear of death that we’ve been hammered with. We’re all aware that we’re going to die. Life is short. Life is temporary, and we are ephemeral creatures.

And I think that we have been confronted with that reality to a damaging effect this past year. It’s exhausting psychologically. We’re all stressed. And so I really do feel like I was a conduit for something a lot bigger. I’ve received messages about how the Chautauqua has provided a community in what would otherwise be a really lonely, scary time for people.

It’s been a very unexpected blessing in my life. And I’m interested to see where it goes in 2021. We’ll see if there’s any steam to keep it up. If it grows, I would love to take it on the road, and maybe turn it into a TV show of some kind. It would just be about what it takes to be alive in the world and how we make our place in the world special.

Jane: That sounds interesting. Stephen Fry did a TV show many years ago where he came to America and just traveled around for 8 or 10 weeks. He didn’t just meet famous people. He was interacting with people in small towns all across the country, just to see what America was like. It was one of the most delightful miniseries that I’ve ever seen. That’s kind of what it sounds like you’re describing.

Kristoffer: I should look for it. That’s a possible goal for the Polaha Chautauqua. I would love to just go and meet people and find out what makes us tick.

Jane: And you have so many “regulars” that watch and participate each week. Those are clearly the people that you would need to go visit.

Kristoffer: Yes! I’d have to go talk to them and meet them in person! And I’m so honored by the support. I am so blown away by how faithful and loyal my fans have been. I can’t even put it into words.

Jane: Well, even if it only ends up being for a season in our lives, just know that that the Polaha Chautauqua has meant so much to so many people. It made the world of difference. It really did.

Kristoffer: Thanks, Jane.

Jane: All right. One of my favorite podcasts is “Office Ladies” about the TV show “The Office.” [Actress] Jenna Fischer mentioned in one episode that there was such a dichotomy between standing on a stage and getting that immediate reaction from the audience, to what she called ‘acting into the void,’ or acting into a camera lens, and not knowing what the audience reaction would be until months later. Do you have a preference? Do you yearn to go back to the stage and have that immediate feedback or do you prefer Hollywood where you can kind of work on it and get it to where you want it to be before it goes in front of the camera?

Kristoffer: That’s a fantastic question, Jane. If you were talking to the eight-year-old Kris and asked, “What do you want to be?” I think I always thought about either being the President or being an actor. I truly did. I always thought that’d be fun. I remember playing make-believe games, and I would be a soldier. But I wouldn’t be pretending that I was a soldier in a real war, I would be pretending that I was a soldier in a movie and I’d think, “Okay, in this shot he’s going to be in the helicopter. And then I’ll go down the stairs on my knees and the camera will catch me here,” and I was visualizing it like a movie.

And I remember, my best friend Graham and I used to make home movies where we’d put a camera behind a mask to show the character’s view. We were 10-year-old kids with a VHS camera making movies.

But it wasn’t until I got to high school and started doing the plays, and then in college in New York City. Like what Jenna said, that immediate interaction with the audience very quickly gives you a specific story. I was on stage in a play called Bread and Butter, written by Eugene O’Neill. My character was a frustrated artist, and I remember there was a huge emotional scene at the end. The only thing I could compare it to was that the audience literally became like a horse. And I had these invisible reins in my hand. When I pulled on the right, I could bring the entire room with me in one emotional direction. Then I could just pull to the left and I could feel the entire theater move in that emotional direction towards the left. And that is an amazing, awesome power.

The closest you ever get to that in film is maybe the guy behind the camera, after a take, would come up and say, “Whoa, man, that was some good acting.” You really don’t get that in film and television, but what makes up for it is that you get this time capsule that lasts for as long as people can keep watching it. I’ve been able to watch myself grow older and watch myself getting better as an actor. And there’s something really precious about the intimacy that film and television provide and the reach that they provide.

So, to answer your question, I always yearn to go back to the stage, but I love in equal measure doing film and television because I feel it’s a really special medium, and it’s kind of the one that I think I was originally drawn to.

Jane: That’s totally fair. I mean, eight-year-old you was imagining that you were fighting in a war and the camera was positioned nearby. Clearly you had a vision for what you wanted to be. Now, my daughter and I recently binge-watched a TV series, and there was a character in the show that made me think, “Polaha should have played that role.” Is there a TV show that you watch that makes you think “Oh, what I could have done with that role! I would love to be on that show.” Do you even watch a lot of television? I’ve heard a lot of actors actually don’t watch a lot of TV because they just don’t have time.

Kristoffer: I stream a lot of stuff because when I’m working, I keep my input at a minimum. But when I come home, my wife and I will often stream things. Every once in a while, I’ll see something and think, “Man, I would have crushed that.” There’s a lot of good TV out there.

Actually, I have to be honest with you. I did a show called “Backstrom.” We filmed it in 2014 and it got canceled in 2015. It was my seventh series in a row. I’d get a season here, a season there, two seasons on “Life, Unexpected” season, “Ringer” for half a season, and finally, with “Backstrom,” which everybody said it would be “the one.”

It got canceled and I was so burnt out and I was so done with episodic television because it’s a marathon. You start shooting in June, and you don’t finish until March, and if you are playing a main character, you’re going five days a week. And my family moves to the city that we shoot in and it becomes my life. It’s absolutely life-consuming, and mind-numbing, and you just get exhausted. And when “Backstrom” got canceled, I kind of said, “Lord, I think I’m done with episodic television.”

But for the first time in over five years, on the inside, I think I’m ready to get back to episodic television. I’ve watched shows that are things that would be fun to be a part of. And I love the idea of telling a story over 8 or 10 episodes. That seems really manageable. I’m interested in trying to generate my own ideas because I think television is a really cool medium, and I love the long format aspect of watching a character develop and move, and shift and change.

In the meantime, I have a directorial debut called A Work of Art, and it’s about a girl who plans to swim into the ocean and drown. And while she is drowning, she thinks about her life. Specifically, she thinks about this relationship she has with her uncle, who I play, and all of a sudden, she thinks, “Wait a minute, I don’t want to do this.” It’s almost done. and we’re going to submit it to film festivals this summer and I’m so proud of it.

Jane: Let’s talk Wonder Woman 1984 for a moment. I don’t know if you know how controversial your character is? Folks on Twitter, in particular, began a discussion about the notion of consent in a #MeToo era, and about the ramifications of Handsome Man’s experience. I don’t think anybody anticipated that conversation.

Kristoffer: I think it also speaks to how much hurt has been done to people, and how much hurt is in the world. Yeah, it was interesting.

Jane: Well, I loved your character. And many of your fans were devastated that, spoilers!, at the end Handsome Man and Diana didn’t go grab a cup of coffee.

Kristoffer: Yeah. [director] Patty [Jenkins] said, “I want to have you guys walk off together.” And then her editor did this little mix and she said, “You know what? We just found something.” I mean, I don’t think that Wonder Woman needs a boyfriend, you know? She had her great love of her life and maybe she’ll have another one, but I think the film answered that question a little bit. But for my fans and for my wife…she said, “Ooh, I just wanted more of you.” And I think it could have happened, had we walked off together. Maybe he’ll be back in WW3. Maybe.

Jane: I know everybody is anticipating and hoping that you’ll end up in WW3. We’ll have to wait and see, I guess. All right, so another thing I want to ask you about is your book that’s coming out in March.

Kristoffer: It’ll be on bookshelves March 9th.

Jane: As if you didn’t have enough going on, you’re making movies, you’ve got Polaha Chautauqua, you’re doing Hallmark movies. And now, let’s write a book! Why not? You were just talking about how you don’t have a lot of time.

Kristoffer: I love being on Hallmark. It’s probably one of the greatest fan bases in the world. Arguably it’s up there with Marvel and the DCEU. I mean, Hallmark has this incredibly loyal audience. It’s awesome. And because they’re rom-coms, I thought it’d be a fun thing to write a book. I’m always trying to pitch ideas and they’re always telling me to bring intellectual property (“IP”). So I think, “I’ve got to get the rights to a book.” I was in the grocery store one day and I saw these romance novels being sold. I literally took the names of five authors down and was going to cold call them and ask if they wanted to collaborate.

But at the beginning of the pandemic, my neighbor told me he was on a board with a woman named Anna Gomez out of Chicago. She’s a CFO for a big marketing firm, but she’s also romance novelist and she’s got books that she’s trying to turn into film. So, I read her books, then talked to her and said if she ever wanted to write one together, we could go to Hallmark with the IP. That’s when she mentioned she was just assigned a Kona series for five books, and she asked if I wanted to collaborate on that.

I’ve never had so much fun collaborating on an artistic project. We’ve had the best time working together. I’m really proud of Book One (Moments Like This) (now on pre-sale, coming out on March 9). And for Book Two, we’re about 15 chapters in and it’s already really juicy and fun. And we know what Book Three is. We know Book Four is, and we kind of have an idea of Book Five.

Jane: Well, I’ve got it on pre-order I can’t wait to read it. Your next movie project is Jurassic World: Dominion. What a fun film franchise to be a part of! How did you get looped into that project? And is there anything you can tell us about your character at this point in time?

Kristoffer: The role is Wyatt Huntley and I am not at liberty to share one single piece of information other than it was one of the best jobs of my life. We filmed in the UK during quarantine and lived in a bubble, which created a deep bond among the cast. It’s going to be the best Jurassic movie since the first one and I can’t wait for people to see it… in movie theaters! COVID will be controlled and life will be back, looking towards the summer of 2022.

Jane: Any Hallmark news for us? When is the next Mystery movie to be released? They keep running marathons as though they are prepping us for a new one. We want it!

Kristoffer: There is a new Mystery 101 (Killer Timing) airing on March 21st, I believe. Jill [Wagner] and I filmed it in November during COVID. They used a story from my personal life in the script, that’s all I’ll say about that. But invested parties can do some digging and find the answer.

Jane: Well, I’m going to let you go, since I am sure you have a busy schedule. But THANK YOU for spending some time talking to me!

Kristoffer: I’m so glad I got to talk to you. You’ve been awesome on Twitter and, just in life I’ve really enjoyed you and your website, and I’m always so flattered by that. So, thank you. I’m glad that we did this.

* * * * 

See? I told you he’s delightful! But you knew that already. Much like my conversation with Nikki DeLoach, there was much more that we talked about that I didn’t include. Kristoffer spoke with obvious pride in his voice about his dad, Jerome, who spent over 50 years working in the legal field, 21 of those years as a judge in Reno, Nevada. We talked about coping with homeschooling in a COVID year and our kids pursuing artistic endeavors. And he solidified his place as my all-time favorite Hallmark leading man.

Want to find him online?
Website: Kristoffer Polaha
Twitter: KrisPolaha
Facebook: Kristoffer Polaha
Instagram (where he hosts his weekly Polaha Chautauqua): Polahaha
Kristoffer also supports herARTS in Action, which I recommend you check out!