Mario shares what drew him to his role on BET+'s 'Style Me for Christmas'

Christmas is Wednesday, and among the many holiday films available to watch is Style Me for Christmas, streaming on BET+. Mario stars in the movie as Tedee Maxwell, an R&B heartthrob who offers a styling opportunity to Raven Goodwin's Tiffany Ford, a woman struggling to prevent eviction and keep her late mother's boutique afloat. The lines become blurred when Tiffany pretends to be in a relationship with him to help fix his playboy image, leading to some complications.

Mario's an R&B heartthrob in real life, which is part of why he signed up for the movie. "What drew me to the role was the fact that ... I only had 25 days to shoot it. So ... me knowing how to play [an] artist. I was like, OK, I can do this in 25 days," he tells ABC Audio. He loved that Tiffany was a Black woman with a business who not only struggled but experienced victories, noting, "I just like that message ... [to inspire] young Black women who are entrepreneurs to ... fight through."

He also loved the idea of having a love interest who defied stereotypes and felt "it was a great story" that his late grandmother, whose favorite holiday was Christmas, would have been "proud to see."

Turns out Mario made a good decision, as he had fun working with the cast members, who he says "felt like family" or "somebody I knew in my life already." He also learned a lot as one of the producers on the film.

"Seeing things from a different perspective in terms of how things are done behind the scenes helped me a lot and motivated me a lot on my journey to doing bigger projects," Mario says.