Queer Venezuelan Actress Humberly González Stars in Hallmark’s First Lesbian Christmas Movie

Christmas movies are a staple of the holiday season. We all revisit the classics, but with each year that passes, new movies emerge to reignite our holiday spirit and give us some much needed representation in a genre that is not known for being the most inclusive. Hallmark’s first lesbian Christmas movie features none other than a Latina lead: Venezuelan actress Humberly González. The film Friends & Family Christmas premiered December 17 as part of Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas series. While we’re still looking for more queer representation in holiday movies, especially queer Latinxs, there has been an increase in media showing queer joy and Christmas spirit sharing space. We’ve seen films like Netflix’s Single All the Way starring Michael Urie from the iconic Ugly Betty, Hulu’s Happiest Season starring Kristen Stewart, and even Amazon Prime’s series With Love that actually sees a queer Latino—played by Mark Indelicato, another Ugly Betty star—centered on love during the holidays. These strides we’ve seen in queer representation during the holiday season makes Humberly González’s lead role as a queer Latina in this film that much more meaningful. González, who is queer, spoke with News is Out about what it meant to play a queer Latina in such a pioneering film for Hallmark:

“It’s honestly an honor and not just because of that. It’s like me being an immigrant and being ESL (English as a second language) and a woman of color, and coming out later in life and kind of discovering myself through the industry. It’s such a cherry on top of the journey of playing queer roles.”

Friends & Family Christmas gives viewers the fake dating trope they know and love. There’s Amelia, an entertainment lawyer,—played by Ali Liebert—fresh out of a relationship and Daniella, who is played by González, an artist looking to spend the holidays with friends rather than her overbearing parents. Daniella and Amelia are set up by their parents and agree to pretend to date during the holidays to make them happy. As they go through the motions of their fake relationship, they realize their connection is stronger than they thought. Fans of romance and Christmas movies can expect the usual feel good moments and revelations in this holiday rom-com.

While González’s role in this movie stands out, this is not the first time we’ve seen the actress grace our screens.The Venezuelan-Canadian actress has been acting from a young age, and went on to attend the National Theatre School of Canada. She has starred as Brooklyn 2 in Utopia Falls, a Canadian Hulu series following teenagers living in a colony in the future as well as getting a  role in the Netflix series Ginny & Georgia playing Sophie Sanchez—who is also a queer character—for 14 episodes during the show’s first season. González has also made appearances in films such as the fantasy/adventure flick Slumberland—starring Aquaman actorJason Momoa—as Graciela and as Joni in the romance film Stay the Night.

She went on to tell News is Out that part of the significance of playing Daniella was highlighting her own culture and countering the homophobia that’s common in LATAM.

“And getting to bring my culture into it. It’s also such a beautiful thing, because there is so much homophobia and transphobia back home. It’s something that I grew up around and was very fearful that, you know, I was going to be excommunicated from everything if I followed this path. And to be met with so much love has been shocking. I’ve had to rewire my brain to be like, “oh, I can accept this support and accept this love” even from my parents. I love that with the movies and the content that people turn to for comfort during the holidays, that this can exist within that world, that it is just this beautiful love story. And it can be queer, and it can be comforting and it doesn’t have to be about struggling. I’m very excited that this is like the first.”

Friends & Family Christmas airs Dec. 24 at 12 pm central and airs again on Dec. 27 at 6 am central.