Sam Page Joins Hallmark's "Godwink" Franchise with "A Godwink Christmas: Second Chance, First Love"

Once he was well versed in the term, he started thinking about his own Godwink moments. “I think a lot of people, whether it's some kind of sign, whether it's that twinkle or light flare, whatever it is, if you're paying attention there are a lot of signs out there leading you around that we don't necessarily realize until we're open to seeing them,” he explained.

In the film, Page stars as Pat, a divorced father of two who returns home to Boise, Idaho, with his boys after selling his Hawaii-based adventure business. Through a Godwink (or an extremely fortuitous coincidence), he is reunited with his childhood sweetheart Margie (D’Orsay, pictured at top and below with Page). As "coincidences" continue to bring them together, old feelings are re-ignited. But with Margie already involved with someone else, and the possibility of Pat’s career moving again, it may take one giant Godwink to finally bring the two together.

Page said there were many personal connections to the character of Pat he could draw on for his portrayal. The fact he’s a father of three himself was one. “[I identified] with how [this] character’s making choices for himself and his family that might not be the easiest,” he revealed. “But he believes they’re for the right reasons. Moving the family, selling his business to stay close to his ex-wife for the kids' sake, even though he's not quite sure what he's going to be doing or where. And how his dreams are not that well defined, but he certainly has them.

“Pat followed his heart to Hawaii when he first left Boise," he continued. “Now he's making some personal sacrifices for the good of the family and trying to explain to the kids that this is a good thing and it’s going to be great. He then turns around and says, ‘Okay, how do I make this everything I promised?’ When you have kids, that's every Christmas and Halloween. You make the promise, then come through with it.”

As an actor, Page is used to a nomadic lifestyle and traveling to where his work takes him. However, given the current COVID-19 production precautions required to make a movie these days, this time he felt the pangs of fatherhood. “Midway through this shoot, because of the two-week quarantine and not being able to go back and forth which I normally can do on these Hallmark movies for at least one weekend, I couldn’t,” he recalled. “Every time you come back [to the production] you have to quarantine, and no one can visit you as they’d have had to quarantine, too.

“So midway through this shoot I had already been away from my family longer than I ever had before and still had another half to go,” he continued. “That was hard. But you put your head down and plow through it. A lot of what I do is for my family and I’m very lucky that my wife can explain that to our four-year-old, and he understands. But then our [twin] daughters, both two, don't get it, so it’s hard for them. We do have a lot of FaceTime.”

Being constantly in demand for the variety of roles he’s been afforded over his career is something Page never takes for granted. “I certainly feel blessed to have gotten the work I have,” he shared. “It's varied, which is also partly by design, partly by opportunity. But you want to do that, at least I do.

"Hallmark has been really wonderful in working with my schedule," he added. "They have their moviemaking down to a science. They get you in and out before anybody else even gets a production going. They've always been very receptive to me calling and saying, ‘Hey if you have something I'm right for, I’m available.’ Then they find you something and that’s so wonderful. It’s nice to have a place like Hallmark where you're welcomed with open arms when you're available.”

There’s one other factor that continues to bring Page back to the network as often as he can: The devoted legions of Hallmarkies. “The fans love the movies,” he said in closing. “The feedback is great, and on social media it's so warm and friendly. When I did Christmas in Rome last year with Lacey (Chabert), we were shooting near Trevi Fountain and some American tourists came up and asked, ‘Are you guys shooting a Hallmark movie, because they’re all we watch?’ They resonate, and although I've been fortunate to do a lot of other work, I hear mostly about making these movies.”

A Godwink Christmas: Second Chance, First Lovewill be telecast Sunday, November 22 at 10 p.m. on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries as part of its annual Miracles of Christmasprogramming event.