Two former NFL football players turned actors have roles in the Hallmark movie Snowcoming. The protagonist is Samantha Kerrigan (Lindy Booth) who returns home to celebrate her father’s retirement from coaching football. Coach Kerrigan is portrayed by Ed Marinaro (Hill Street Blues), who played college ball at Cornell before playing for the Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets and the Seattle Seahawks. When Samantha returns home, she’s reunited with her former high school boyfriend Jake (Trevor Donovan, Sun Records) who’s now a quarterback in the NFL. With Jake is his “Jerry Maguire” like agent Lenny.
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Lenny is portrayed by former NFL player Joe Theismann who played at Notre Dame before playing 12 seasons with the Washington Redskins and helping the team to consecutive Super Bowl appearances (they won Super Bowl XVII, not XVIII). Both Marinaro and Thiesmann were Heisman Trophy finalists (Thiesmann in 1970; Marinaro in 1971).
This isn’t Theismann’s acting debut. He appeared in two Burt Reynolds movies: Cannonball Run II (as Mack) and in The Man from Left Field (as Phil Corey), among others. Snowcoming premieres on Hallmark Channel on Saturday, January 26 at 8 pm.
