Linden Banks

Linden Banks is the kind of face you half recognize from the edge of the frame, the dependable supporting player rather than the man getting the poster. Since 2017 he has turned up in six Hallmark films, none of them as the lead, and that is no knock: he is the texture around the romance. Christmas is where he lands most often, with three of the six set during the holidays, usually in a small town under winter light. His best showing is The Mistletoe Inn from 2017, which at 6.4 sits just ahead of A Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas. He plays it straight, no scenery chewing, and he works with whoever the script hands him rather than sticking to one set of co-stars. If you have watched enough of these, you have seen him, and you were glad he was there.