Actor Travis Van Winkle broke onto our screens 21 years ago with a small role on Mad TV and has not stopped booking roles since then. He has been in a number of projects with soap alums, including the films John Tucker Must Die, with Passions alum Jesse Metcalfe (Miguel), and Transformers with All My Children alum Josh Duhamel (Leo). Soap Hub caught up with the actor at That’s4Entertainment’s Christmas Con, where he shared how he came to the rescue of his cutie pie dog.

Key Takeaways

• Van Winkle has been working steadily in film and television since 2004
• Van Winkle starred on You alongside Penn Badgley and Christopher Sean.
• Van Winkle saved his dog Karen’s life.
• Van Winkle will be seen in 2026 in The Pitt and Holiday Ever After: A Disney World Wish Come True.

All Aboard

Van Winkle’s longest-running series to date debuted in 2014. The actor was cast as Lt. Danny Green on the TNT drama The Last Ship. The series ran for five seasons and starred Days of Our Lives alum Bren Foster (Quinn) and Grey’s Anatomy’s Eric Dane. The show took place after a global pandemic wiped out most of the world’s population. The crew aboard a U.S. Navy destroyer may have been among the last survivors on Earth, forced to navigate a radically changed world and an uncertain future. The show wrapped in 2019, just a year shy of an actual pandemic.

Hallmark Leading Man

Travis joined the ranks of Hallmark hunks when he was cast as Scott in the holiday film Christmas Getaway in 2017. In 2021 he and Rachael Leigh Cook starred in the film ‘Tis the Season to be Merry. In the film, Cook’s Merry was an author looking for a new angle for her latest book. She found herself in snowy Vermont, where she met, and spoiler alert, fell in love with Van Winkle’s Adam.

You Know Me

In 2021, Travis joined the cast of the Netflix series You, where he co-starred with Days of Our Lives alum Christopher Sean (Paul) and The Young and the Restless alum Penn Badgley (Phillip). Van Winkle wrote a personal essay for Backstage where he spoke about his character, “Cary was a character that I instinctively felt suited me.” The character played a pivotal role in that season and also reappeared in the show’s final season for one episode.

Van Winkle will star on the second season of HBO Max’s The Pitt as Curtis Lawson, an aggressive patient in the E.R. Also joining the show this season is Meta Golding, who starred on Loving as Brianna Hawkins. It was also recently announced that he will be in a new Hallmark holiday film, Holiday Ever After: A Disney World Wish Come True, starring General Hospital‘s Bryce Durfee (Vaughn) and All My Children alum Lacey Chabert (Bianca).

Hallmark Channel and Great American Family fans gathered at the New Jersey Expo Center for the 5th annual Christmas Con, a must-attend destination for holiday movie lovers. The popular fan event transformed the venue into a festive winter wonderland, featuring star-studded actor panels, fan-favorite meet-and-greets, themed vendor booths, and immersive Christmas experiences inspired by beloved holiday films.

Soap Hub went behind the scenes with exclusive backstage access, sitting down for one-on-one interviews with nearly every actor in attendance. Looking ahead, tickets for Christmas Con 2026 go on sale Saturday, January 17, at noon, and will be available through That’s 4 Entertainment’s official website.