Oh my

gosh.

I mean, do you still enjoy Mean Girls all these years later? Oh my gosh, yes.

I mean, look.

Mean Girls is what made my career, right? It's what made me, it was my breakout role in Hollywood.

And so I have so much respect and love for it.

So people say, do you get sick of October 3rd? Do you get sick of Mean Girls? And I go, no, because it is a movie that brings so many people joy.

You must have learned a major carving pumpkin hack on this show.

And I'm curious, now that you've had some space from that landmark moment, How do you reflect back on that time and being the person who got to sort of do that huge watershed thing for representation?

Well, it's such a powerful thing, right? Because my costume from...

the movie the christmas house which was the first time ever in a christmas movie we saw two men have a love story that were at the forefront like uh lgbt led gay love story between two men it was the first time we had two guys kiss in a christmas movie and so we got the classic end of the movie hallmark kiss which was amazing and what's crazy is our clothes from that scene where we kissed are actually in the smithsonian lgbt archives as part of history with a picture of us and the script because it's the first time it had been done ever and so to like open that door and once we open that door so many other people walk through it but which is the whole point of opening doors.

But I think for me, it's not just about that.

It's about where we tell these stories.

I tell them on Hallmark Channel.

So if you think about who watches Hallmark Channel, it's a lot of people in the Midwest and in states where if you think about it, they might not know a gay person in their town or know that someone in their life is gay, right? They might not have friends that are gay.

Like, it must be amazing to think about that time of your life from this perspective.

For those who may not be familiar with this competition show, break it down.

Sure.

So Halloween Wars is back.

We're back for season 16, and this season is called Back from the Dead.

It's basically where we take the best pumpkin carvers, cake artists, and sugar makers in the world, and we put them head-to-head with two rounds of nail-biting competition.

The displays that they make on this show are absolutely insane, what they can do with pumpkin, what they can do with cake, what they can do with sugar.

And when you bring it all together, these displays are just absolutely Absolutely out of this world.

Yeah, I got a

For those who may not be familiar with this competition show, break it down.

Sure.

So Halloween Wars is back.

We're back for season 16, and this season is called Back from the Dead.

It's basically where we take the best pumpkin carvers, cake artists, and sugar makers in the world, and we put them head-to-head with two rounds of nail-biting competition.

The displays that they make on this show are absolutely insane.

What they can do with pumpkin, what they can do with cake, what they can do with sugar, and when you bring it all together...

It's really dangerous

Jonathan Bennett interview, September 11th, 2025.

And there was a agent from Innovative Artists who was on the train while I was going through my headshots, and it was, like, literally the Hollywood movie moment.

He's like, "Are you an actor?" I was like, "Yeah." He's like, "Let me see your headshot." And he's like, "Cool.

Here's my card.

Come into our office.

I want you to read for me." And I was like, "Okay." He's like, "Do you have an agent?" I'm like, "No." He's like, "Come on in." So we go.

I go to Innovative Artists, like, two days later.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

I mean, it's crazy.

And I'm gonna bring in...

I've already talked to a fellow, and I don't wanna go into detail about it too much, but he does outdoor, like, patio furniture, furniture.

He is on board to come and do a class.

You know, we have Kathy Geffen, we have Carol Blow.

I mean, the list is huge here.

Mm-hmm.

And I think what's really cool is you are working at a network where I think a lot of people over the years thought that could never be possible.

So how hard did you have to push for these ideas to happen? Great question.

Yeah, you know.

Previously, years ago, when you think of Hallmark Channel, you wouldn't think like, oh, gay Christmas rom-com, right? It was a different world.

And then we had people like Michelle Vickery come into power at the network, who has been a huge advocate for it.

And she called me one day and said, do you want to play gay characters or straight characters? And I said, I'd like to play gay characters.

She goes, done.

Mm-hmm.