Jonathan Bennett

Jonathan Bennett has had a banner year. “This year I’m most proud of two really big projects: producing and starring in the first gay-led movie with a same-sex wedding on Hallmark in The Groomsmen [and] creating and hosting Hallmark’s first-ever nonscripted reality competition show, Finding Mr. Christmas, America’s search for the next Hallmark Christmas movie star,” he says.

Bennett adds, “Oh, and also my Broadway debut!” He made that debut in Spamalot.

“My biggest obstacle has been learning to get out of my own way,” says the Mean Girls alumnus, who is gay. “As a queer storyteller, I kept finding myself worried too much about what ‘the business’ or ‘the network’ wants.”

“I realized just telling stories about LGBTQ+ characters that are rooted in what’s real is all you have to do,” he notes. “Because those stories deserve to be told as much as any other — we live them every day. And if you make great stories that people can relate to, everyone will watch them.”

Bennett, also known for sharing adorable videos of domestic life with his husband Jaymes Vaughan, plans to “keep telling queer stories in spaces where they need to be told.” @jonathandbennett