Actor Trevor Donovan had a busy 2021. He filmed back-to-back romantic comedies, one with Hallmark, one with GAC Family, and a third with an independent film company, though he said he hopes it ends up on GAC.
“Bill Abbott, the former CEO of Hallmark, became a pretty good friend of mine while I was working there,” Donovan said in an interview with Feeling the Vibe. “We kept in contact after he stepped down.”
Donovan said he would also be open to working again with Brian Bird, the co-creator and producer of When Calls the Heart and its spinoff series, When Hope Calls. The two recently worked on a movie together and hit it off.
“Yeah, it might very well be happening,” he said in an interview with Heavy. “Like I said, I worked with Brian Bird on two movies this last year… We’ve become pretty good friends…So that’s a definite possibility.”
Bird produced the independent film The Engagement Plot, which stars Donovan and actress Rachel Boston. During filming last fall, he shared photos of the cast and crew, including a shot of himself and Donovan fishing on location in Colorado.
“Some early morning fly fishing on #TheEngagementPlot,” Bird wrote in the caption. “Trying to hook a spouse, maybe?”
A long and successful career
A California native, Donovan got his start as a professional actor with a bit part in the 2004 series Quintuplets. He followed that with a stint as Jeremy Horton on Days of Our Lives.
His breakout role was on the CW series 90210. Donovan played Teddy Montgomery, a character who came out as gay and eventually married his boyfriend in a Las Vegas ceremony.
Donovan recently posted photos of the wedding episode on his Instagram page.
“10 years ago today CW aired 90210 episode 8 “Vegas, Maybe?” where Teddy Montgomery married Shane,” he wrote in the caption. “A gay wedding on TV doesn’t seem like a big deal now, but 10 years ago it kinda was. So much progress & tolerance has been made since then, and I am so honored to have been a part of it.”
The actor’s first Hallmark movie was Strawberry Summer (2012). Since then, he has appeared in the Hallmark movies Marry Me at Christmas (2017), Love, Fall & Order (2019), and USS Christmas (2020).
New network, new partnership
Donovan’s first movie with GAC Family was Jingle Bell Princess, which premiered in November 2021. He co-starred with Merritt Patterson, another actor who has had a long working relationship with Hallmark.
Other Hallmark favorites such as Danica McKellar, Jen Lilley, Jessica Lowndes, Chad Michael Murray, and Cindy Busby have also made movies with the network.
Donovan said he had a vague idea of Abbott’s plans following his 2020 exit from Crown Media Family Networks, the company he ran for 11 years.
“…He was a little secretive about it, going, ‘I’ve got something in the works,’” Donovan told Feeling the Vibe. “He kept me in the loop, so initially, I found out through him. I think it’s going to be an amazing place for family-friendly programming.”