Get to Know Ronnie Rowe, Jr. The Handsome and Talented Rising Hallmark Star
You may recognize Ronnie Rowe Jr. for his role in Star Trek: Discovery as Lieutenant R.A. Bryce, or maybe even for his roles in films like Black Cop or Maps and Mistletoe, but in our eyes, he's the Hallmark hunk we've been missing, and we can't wait to see what's next for the 42-year-old actor. Catch him in Christmas With a Kiss, out December 3 at 8/7c, a part of Hallmark's 2023 Countdown to Christmas!
Meet Ronnie Rowe, Jr.
Hailing from Toronto, Canada, Ronnie Rowe, Jr. got bit by the acting bug at an early age. His earliest work was in small-scale school productions, in works ranging from The Sound of Music, Oliver Twist and Grease to The Wizard of Oz.
"I was actually forced into acting, funny enough, because of a grade six teacher. He was really into musical theatre so he forced all the grade sixes to audition for these plays. One of them was Oliver Twist, another one was Grease, and another one was the Sound of Music. Through this opportunity, that’s when I fell in love with acting," Rowe told Novella Magazine. "I got to play Danny Zuko, so I might have been the first black Danny Zucko. I got to play Mr. Bumble in Oliver Twist, I was the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz. I thought it was amazing that I could remember the lines. It never felt like I was memorizing."
As he got older, his interests expanded outside of just acting alone. Enjoying things like basketball and modeling throughout high school, he eventually found his way back to his original passion of acting when he was cast as the lead role of Will in his high school production of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
Where you may have seen Ronnie Rowe, Jr.
Ronnie Rowe Jr. rose to recognition in recent years for his role as Lieutenant R.A. Bryce in Star Trek: Discovery between 2017 and 2022. His lead role in the indie film Black Cop also earned him recognition, premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival.
"The movie is a satire/drama. It’s a man’s struggle between his duty and who he is as an individual. Through every day life, he experiences profiling, or being profiled by a police officer and it sets him over the edge to take things into his own hands and set out on a path of revenge," Rowe explained to Novella.
Other significant roles he's taken on have been in Dual Suspects, The Firm, Warehouse 13, Murdoch Mysteries, The Expanse and The Strain. When asked about how it feels to be a leading man, Rowe, Jr. told Novella, "It feels fantastic. It’s something that I was always capable of being and now I’m thankful for the opportunity to showcase that and for other people to see what I already believed."
Ronnie Rowe, Jr. takes on Hallmark
Ronnie Rowe Jr. took on his first Hallmark role in 2020's Jingle Bell Bride alongside Julie Gonzalo, followed by Inventing the Christmas Prince in 2022. Here, take a deeper look at his Hallmark films so far, and what's still to come from the beloved actor!
1. Jingle Bell Bride (2020)
Julie Gonzalo stars as wedding planner Jessica Perez, who travels to a small town in Alaska during Christmas to find a rare flower for one of her celebrity clients — with the help of a handsome local, played by Ronnie Rowe, Jr.
"It was hilarious, actually, because we shot in August, so it was a little warmer than it would be at Christmas. So, I had all these layers on and I'm sweating buckets but I'm supposed to be freezing," he joked with The Sarah Scoop Show. "But they absolutely captured the essence of the Christmas season."
2. Inventing the Christmas Prince (2022)
As Shelby is about to quit her job, one major thing stands in her way: her daughter is convinced that Evan, Shelby's scrooge of a boss, is the Christmas Prince, which was a story Shelby had made up a long, long time ago.
3. Christmas With a Kiss (2023)
When a woman (Mishael Morgan) returns home to help her family with their annual Christmas Carnival, romance ignites. On the other hand, Ronnie Rowe, Jr. plays a photojournalist who works to create a surprise reunion.
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15 of the Most Romantic Hallmark Movies, Ranked
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