It’s the hallmark of his profession.
A former Lengthy Island faculty quarterback took a leap of religion by shifting to Hollywood to pursue performing — and now he’s sleighed it because the romantic Hallmark Channel’s new “Mr. Christmas,” upsetting 9 others on a actuality present to land a task in one in all its newest vacation movies.
“The opposite 9 have been all reached out to [for casting] on Instagram. … I didn’t get something,” mentioned Lake Ronkonkoma’s Craig Geoghan, the underdog victor of the channel’s current “Discovering Mr. Christmas” competitors, to The Submit.
“It’s like all the opposite guys have been on scholarship, and I used to be a walk-on for the present,” mentioned the 34-year-old ex-grid standout, who performed for Stony Brook College and was a star at Sachem North Excessive College till 2009.
Geoghan — whose Hallmark flick “A Make or Break Vacation” simply debuted — mentioned he knew he needed to make a long-lasting impression through the actuality present’s casting interval in March, so he boldly marched into Hallmark’s places of work unannounced and launched himself forward of season two’s filming.
“I used to be really capable of communicate with the casting director. … She mentioned, ‘You already know what, we don’t often take walk-ins, however we expect it’d be nice for this present we now have developing,’ ” he recalled.
“I mentioned, The place do I join?”
The sharp-looking ex-athlete’s performing profession beforehand included starring in Carrie Underwood’s “Ghost Story” music video and roles on “How I Met Your Father” and “Rescue: HI-Surf.”
“I deliberate on going to the NFL at the start, however solely the 1% of the 1% get to do this,” mentioned Geoghan, who performed at Nassau Group School in between highschool and Division One at Stony Brook.
“I shifted routes and needed to turn out to be a bodily therapist. … However I didn’t get into my grasp’s program, and on the time, I used to be bummed, man, I used to be actually bummed.”
However Geoghan’s loving mother and father, Keith and Janet, lifted him up and nudged their good-looking boy to get headshots for performing about 10 years in the past.
“I lastly did, and inside every week, I used to be reserving work out right here on Lengthy Island, doing a neighborhood jewellery business, doing modeling for the packages of Halloween costumes,” he mentioned.
“Generally I nonetheless see them in shops occasionally,” mentioned the Giants fan — who desires to play Tom Brady in a biopic sometime — of the advertisements.
Issues have been going so effectively that Geoghan tossed up the final word Hail Mary and left Suffolk County for Los Angeles in 2017 to take issues to the following stage.
Rapidly, he discovered Tinseltown isn’t any fairy story.
“It took some time to get off the bench and into the sport. You audition and audition numerous occasions, you don’t hear again,” mentioned Geoghan, noting he would self-motivate each time he drove previous the Hollywood signal.
Years of tolerating the “sluggish course of” pushed the previous sign caller to door-knock for his spot on “Discovering Mr. Christmas,” which turned a completely new kind of competitors he wasn’t used to.
“It’s not cutthroat or something like that,” he mentioned of the eight-week present that filmed round Utah final spring.
“We’re all rooting one another on. … We turned like buds, however on the similar time, it’s competitors.”
The candy however survival-themed present examined Geoghan’s performing prowess — for instance, by having to keep in Christmas cheer in excessive temps and thick sweaters — as he proved to judges together with Jonathan Bennett that he was greater than “the humorous man.”
That got here simply once they flew his mother out to function a visitor choose on an episode, through which Geoghan needed to learn aloud a heartfelt Christmas card to her.
“It was powerful to type of get the phrases out as a result of I’ve a lot love for her,” he mentioned of the girl who gave him the push he wanted to observe his goals.
“Grown-man tears. A lot of grown-man tears.”
Now, Geoghan’s newest performing credit score is Hallmark’s just lately debuted, “A Make or Break Vacation,” which can be a make-or-break second in his profession.
“I’m wanting ahead to a giant 2026,” Geoghan mentioned.
Whereas again on Lengthy Island for the vacations, he was cheered on by academics and college students throughout a homecoming go to at his highschool alma mater Tuesday.
“To have individuals like ‘Craig, we noticed you, have been rooting for you, it’s very particular,” Geoghan mentioned.
