Fans Support Kristoffer Polaha as He Hopes for Happier 2025

Longtime Hallmark star Kristoffer Polaha has high hopes for 2025 after a particularly difficult 2024. After midnight on New Year’s Day, “The Christmas Quest” star shared a vulnerable Instagram post about some of the “high points” he experienced amid many hard losses.

“It’s late here in Mississippi as I write this,” he wrote. “2024 was a low year for my family. We lost a lot and gained a little. It was just a bad year.”

The losses Polaha referenced in his New Year’s Day post included his mother-in-law’s death in March and the August death of a devoted fan who’d become a friend. Polaha’s family also lost two beloved pets in 2024 — their dog Tebow died in January, and they said goodbye to their dog Rebel in June.

On top of all of those losses, Polaha and his wife Julianne were also adjusting to life with two of their three kids away at college; in August, the actor shared an emotional video of the whole family dropping middle son Micah off for his first year at New York University. The prior August, their eldest son (and aspiring country star) Caleb began his first year at Nashville’s Belmont University.

But in addition to authentically honoring the challenges his family faced in 2024, Polaha shared that connecting with fans in-person and making his feature film directorial debut with the forthcoming movie “Mimics” were among the highlights of the past year, setting the stage for a happier 2025.

“Out with the old, in with the new, but never forgetting the lessons we learned and the people we loved,” he wrote.

Fans Flood Kristoffer Polaha’s Post With Encouraging Messages

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Polaha noted in his New Year’s Day post that one of his favorite aspects of 2024 was meeting lots of Hallmark fans at events held throughout the year, from a January fan cruise with friend and fellow Hallmark star Andrew Walker to the many events Hallmark held in the fourth quarter.

“2024 will go down as the year I got to finally meet most of you in person,” he wrote. “On the cruise last January, or at the Live Chautauqua in Nashville, or in the fall at one of the Hallmark events, or in Reno, and spending time with you was a joy. Like I said, lots of high spots.”

Many of those fans flooded Polaha’s post with encouraging words for the year ahead, including one who wrote, “I attended the Hallmark Christmas Experience for a specific reason however left a huge KP fan. The part that I didn’t expect was hearing your gratitude for life and all the stories about your family and experiences making movies. I am so thankful for the opportunity and glimpse into your world…looking forward to seeing Mimics! Happy 2025 🎉”

Another chimed in, “Your impact in the world is greater than you know. Your message of kindness, love and prayer is really lifting people out of their own low times. Keep sharing your characters in movies to entertain us but more importantly, keep doing the interviews where we get to know you and your true mission of spreading the word. God bless you and your family.”

Kristoffer Polaha is Pumped for ‘Mimics’ Movie Release in 2025

Another bright spot for Polaha in 2024 was directing his first feature film, which was an experience he said he’d waited 30 years to do. He shared a photo in his post that “found its way to the top of my library very randomly” from the night he and his producers, Ken Carpenter and Marc Oakley, wrapped filming on “Mimics,” which he called “a creepy little love story that will entertain you and your family forevermore.”

“The entire experience was joy and a gift and, honestly, a blessing,” he wrote on Instagram. “Yes, there were other high spots, a lot of them to be sure, but this one was special.”

In December, Polaha told EntertainmentNOW that it was “the joy of my career so far” to finally realize his dream of directing a feature film, from being intimately involved in the script development to securing funding to overseeing the 15-day shoot in Reno, Nevada over the summer. He also acts in the film, which he expects to be released sometime in 2025.

“I love this idea of collaboration,” he said. “The idea of 50-odd people coming together collectively, using their imagination to lift up the story, to tell a story, is a remarkable thing when it’s done right.”