Lacey Chabert’s History With Hallmark Explained

Lacey Chabert has earned her spot as Hallmark’s latest “Queen of Christmas,” but it didn’t happen overnight.

The actress, 42, made her Hallmark Channel debut with 2010’s Elevator Girl. Two years later, she starred in her first holiday feature for the network with Matchmaker Santa.

“These movies mean so much to me. I really am genuine when I say that,” Chabert exclusively told Us Weekly in October 2021. “They’re not just jobs, and I feel a responsibility to the audience to make the absolute best movie I can.”

Chabert expanded her portfolio in 2015 with the first film in the All of My Heart trilogy. The following year, Chabert stepped behind the camera, producing 2016’s A Wish for Christmas, in which she was also the lead.

The Mean Girls star has since produced 22 movies for Hallmark and one TV series (Celebrations With Lacey Chabert — but more on that later).

Chabert became a mystery maven in 2019 with the initial installment of Hallmark Mystery’s Crossword Mysteries franchise. There are five films in the series, which also stars Brennan Elliott.

“Crossword Mysteries, those were really fun,” Chabert exclusively told Us in August, noting that while it’s not in her hands to revive the franchise, she “certainly loved telling those stories.”

In 2021, she became a writer for Hallmark, creating the story for her heartwarming film Sweet Carolina. The following year, Chabert worked with Hallmark favorites Alison Sweeney and Autumn Reeser on The Wedding Veil trilogy, which is now up to six movies.

In addition to cementing herself as one of the network’s biggest stars that year, Chabert took over the role as “Queen of Christmas” that holiday season after Candace Cameron Bure exited Hallmark in April 2022.

Cameron Bure, 48, along with Danica McKellar and other major Hallmark personalities, left the network to join Great American Media. (Cameron Bure was previously known as the “Queen of Christmas” by fans for all her Hallmark projects.)

That fall, for the first time ever, Chabert became the face of the “Countdown to Christmas” promotions and commercials. While Chabert has appeared in past ads for the annual holiday lineup, Cameron Bure traditionally “flipped the switch” for Hallmark in an ad that signified the official start of their holiday programming.

“I am so excited to kick off Hallmark’s ‘Countdown to Christmas,’” Chabert said in an October 2022 video for the network. “You guys, once I flip this switch, ‘Countdown to Christmas’ officially begins!” (She was in charge of lighting the giant Hallmark Christmas tree once again in 2023, and in 2024 she and Kristoffer Polaha kicked off the countdown with a few familiar faces.)

Two months later, Chabert defended Hallmark after Cameron Bure claimed that it had become “a completely different network” after former CEO Bill Abbott stepped down in 2020 amid controversy over the removal of an ad featuring a same-sex couple. Abbott is now the president and CEO of Great American Media.

“I’ll never abandon what Hallmark means for me, which is that everything is centered around the heart,” Chabert told Vulture in December 2022. “I don’t think there are any plans for that to change anytime soon.” She noted that she’s been able to be “more of who I am here than possibly anywhere else I’ve worked.”

The following month, Chabert doubled down on her love for Hallmark. “I never would have thought when I did the first one, which was called Elevator Girl, so many years ago that here I’d be finding such a home in Hallmark,” Chabert said during a January 2023 appearance on Live With Kelly and Ryan.

In the wake of Cameron Bure’s departure, Chabert’s work with Hallmark has only increased. She has starred in 14 holiday movies from 2014 to 2024 and more than 30 movies in total throughout her career with them.

Chabert, however, raised eyebrows in May when it was announced that she will star in a holiday movie for Netflix this season. Hot Frosty premieres on Wednesday, November 13, while her Hallmark holiday feature, The Christmas Quest, comes out Sunday, December 1.

“Everyone knows I love Christmas, so I was super excited to do both: Hot Frosty for Netflix and then The Christmas Quest,” Chabert exclusively told Us in August. “I just really hope people are gonna love both of them. They’re both very different movies and, you know, especially in Christmas Quest, this is the first time I’ve done something that’s a treasure hunt.”

Chabert eased Hallmark fans’ fears of abandonment when she became the first actress to helm her own unscripted series for Hallmark’s new streaming service, Hallmark+, in September. Celebrations With Lacey Chabert centers on throwing surprise parties for a worthy hero around the U.S. in just three days.

Earlier this month, Chabert made headlines when news broke that a former Hallmark casting agent filed a discrimination lawsuit against the company. Penny Perry alleged in her October 9 filing that network executive Lisa Hamilton Daly wanted to stop casting “old people” like Chabert and Holly Robinson Peete.

Perry cited Chabert and Robinson Peete, 60, as examples of “old talent” that Hamilton Daly allegedly thought should be “replaced,” according to court docs obtained by Variety. Hamilton Daly is quoted in the suit as allegedly saying Chabert is “getting older and we have to find someone like her to replace as she gets older.”

Hallmark told Us in a statement on Thursday, October 24, that “Lacey and Holly have a home at Hallmark. We do not generally comment on pending litigation. And while we deny these outrageous allegations, we are not going to discuss an employment relationship in the media.” Us has reached out to Chabert and Robinson Peete for comment.

Prior to the drama, Chabert exclusively told Us in August that she is an “all seasons watcher and supporter” of Hallmark after working for the company for nearly 15 years.

“I love them and, you know, all of the movies that I’ve made for them have special meaning,” she gushed. “Not only because of the movie itself, but also sometimes it’s something I was going through at that point in my life. And, you know, I was pregnant with my daughter in one and I’ll never forget the first movie I made once I had my daughter, and she was on set with me. So I watch the movie and when I see a rerun of one that I’m in, I remember the personal memories that are attached to it.”