Practice Star Snags Soap Hunk

Lucky actress Kelli Williams (The Practice, Medical Investigation) is due for a helluva holiday gift this year. She's getting A Boyfriend for Christmas (Saturday, 9 pm/ET on Hallmark Channel). Her dreamy b.f. in the two-hour TV movie is none other than Patrick Muldoon of Days of our Lives fame. (And all you scored last year was a DVD and some socks.) Here, the 36-year-old actor shares a moment under the mistletoe with TV Guide Online.

TV Guide Online: The movie's title suggests you're God's gift — or at least Santa's — to women.
Patrick Muldoon: Provided they don't return or exchange me, it's good for the ego if somebody considers you a Christmas present.

TVGO: How'd you land this role?
Muldoon: (Chuckles) I guess Cruise, Pitt and Affleck passed, so naturally, the part went to me next on the list.

TVGO: Days fans still consider you the hottest guy to play Austin Reed.
Muldoon: Well, thank you very much. I appreciate that. I was the original. And anybody who's been on Days of our Lives knows the fans will never let you forget it!

TVGO: Back to Boyfriend. What exactly is the film about?
Muldoon: Santa Claus made Kelli Williams a promise when she was very young. Luckily for her, the department-store Santa actually was the real Santa. She asked for a boyfriend, but she was too young, so Santa left her on note on Christmas Day, saying "when two hearts are ready, the boyfriend will appear." So around 20 years later, I show up. I guess I wasn't ready back then either!

TVGO: Maybe you were too busy seducing Mrs. Claus, Days style.
Muldoon: (Laughs) Yeah, well, that's another movie! "Slutboy for Christmas" or "Gigolo Christmas." This is a sweet, uplifting little holiday film.

TVGO: Got any fave holiday traditions?
Muldoon: When my family gets together during the holidays, we watch the three Godfather films back-t-back. It's to inspire family values in all of us. It's a strange yuletide habit, but it's what we do.

TVGO: You play all these romantic hunks. Do you make as much of an effort with your girlfriend off screen?
Muldoon: (Lamely) Umm... let me think. Yeah, I guess.

TVGO: Come off it! You're clearly just coastin' by on your looks, Muldoon.
Muldoon: As long as they last, I'm going to take 'em for all they're worth!

TVGO: Anyway, is it true you're the front man for an L.A. rock band?
Muldoon: My new band is called The Sleeping Masses. I'm the front man, songwriter and guitar player. We're playing around town and doing an album [in the coming] year.

TVGO: OK, I'll bite. How'd you name the band?
Muldoon: The band's name comes from [the German philosopher] Nietzsche. "The sleeping masses" is a term he used to describe how most people go through their lives not awake, just going from one impulse to the next. He had a dark outlook, but I think it's uplifting to think that each day, we can try to become more conscious and wake up to our choices in life. (Laughs) Maybe if we play loud enough, we can wake up the sleeping masses.