Eagle-eyed Hallmark fans noticed a familiar face onstage during the 2025 SAG Awards on February 23, as host Kristen Bell reunited with her “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” co-star Jason Segel in a funny bit.
Though he wasn’t identified, longtime Hallmark hunk and “Reign” alum Torrance Coombs quietly played bartender in the skit as Bell and Segal traded barbs. Observant fans immediately took to social media, with some looking for confirmation that they did, indeed, spot Coombs in the background and others just thrilled to see him there.
What many fans might not realize is that Coombs was perfectly cast in the sketch given that he’s a real-life bartender, who’s been known to pick up shifts in L.A. in between acting jobs.
Torrance Coombs Jokes That SAG Awards Cameo Was His ‘Big Break’
At the start of the SAG Awards bit, seen in a full version of the skit posted to TikTok, Bell approached the onstage bar and asked Coombs, “Hi, can I get a lemon water, please?”
As Coombs, who starred in the “Unwrapping Christmas” series of movies on Hallmark+ in December, quietly pretended to prepare drinks, she noticed Segel at the bar and they talked for a few seconds before she went on to host the show.
But Coombs’ brief appearance didn’t go unnoticed, as X lit up with tweets from fans.
“Was that torrance coombs as the sag awards bartender,” one person tweeted.
Another tweeted, “Watching the SAG rn and was that bartender TorranceCoombs?? Or am I going crazy”
“Why is Torrance Coombs working the bar?” someone else tweeted. “Huh? #SAGAwards”
TikTok exploded, too, with fans recognizing Coombs, including one who wrote, “I love we are all mostly excited to see Torranace 😂😂 Give the man a better gig than the bartender, we are here for it”
On February 24, the morning after the awards show, Coombs posted a clip of the skit in his Instagram Stories and jokingly wrote over it, “At last my big break has arrived!”
He also shared a People article in his Stories about his cameo and wrote, “I’ve been spotted.”
Torrance Coombs Was Bartending to Make Ends Meet in 2023, But is Back to Making Movies
Coombs has appeared on multiple well-known TV series during his career, including “The Tudors,” “Endgame,” “Heartland,” and his role on “Reign” from 2013 to 2016, per IMDb. He ventured into rom-coms starting in 2018 at Hallmark, with “Royally Ever After” opposite Fiona Gubelmann and 2020’s “Romance in the Air” with Cindy Busby.
The COVID pandemic and 2023’s writers’ and actors’ strikes made a lasting impact on Hollywood, though, and Coombs was among many actors who had to find additional income sources during dry spells.
In October 2023, Coombs talked to “Podcast of a Generation” host Myles Dobson about the reality of not always having an acting job, and revealed that he was working as a bartender to make ends meet while waiting for his next acting gig or fan convention. He was even one of the featured experts interviewed for a 2023 Chowhound article about vodka, in which he was described as an “experienced bartender in Los Angeles” with no mention of his work as an actor.
Coombs humbly told Dobson at the time, “I still on occasion will get paid a bunch of money to travel to a place in the world and do a convention to meet people and sign autographs, or I might be the bartender at your Bar Mitzvah for, like, $100, you know what I mean? So yeah, that’s where my life is at right now.”
Happily, in addition to Coombs’ cute cameo, acting gigs have picked back up for him. Among his many projects, Coombs has filmed “The Wrong Paris” with Miranda Cosgrove, slated to premiere on Netflix sometime in 2025, and he was seen in behind-the-scenes photos during the filming of Hallmark’s upcoming “Hearts Around the Table” movies premiering in late March.
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Fans Notice Hallmark Hunk’s Surprise Cameo During SAG Awards Skit: ‘My Big Break’