“Holidazed”’s Dennis Haysbert Says Fans Recognize Him Most from Allstate Ads: '75 Million People a Day' (Exclusive)

He’s played the president in 24, starred in beloved sports comedy Major League and even portrayed God in Lucifer, but Dennis Haysbert can’t escape his gig as Allstate Insurance’s spokesman, which he began in 2003.

“Almost everyone recognizes Allstate because it was on 24/7, 365 on every channel,” Haysbert, 70, tells PEOPLE. “I've done series that have been regaled as classics, but more people have seen me as the Allstate guy than any eight shows that I've ever done. I swear this is probably 75 million people a day — and I think that's a somewhat quiet estimate.”

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Haysbert departs from the type of roles fans have come to know him for to play Robert Lewin in Hallmark+’s Holidazed, the network’s first-ever holiday series, which follows six families on the same cul-de-sac as they gather for the holiday season. Robert finds himself spending Christmas with his son (Jeff Joseph), daughter (Robinne Fanfair), ex-wife (Loretta Devine) and her new boyfriend (Ser'darius Blain).

While their on-screen relationship can be tense, Haysbert calls himself “good friends” with Devine, 75, and her husband Glenn Marshall. He even bonded with 37-year-old Blain, who he describes as “a very talented young man.” “I'm looking forward to seeing him do a lot more,” Haysbert says.

Holidazed may be dripping in holiday spirit, but Haysbert doesn’t deck the halls until the last minute.

“My decorations end up going up a week before Christmas,” he says. “I'm like, ‘Oh, shoot, I forgot.’ It always just starts really ramping up so fast right after Thanksgiving. Because I'm at home alone right now, I may get myself a little bonsai tree and put ornaments on it.”

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The father of two says his daughter Katherine, who also appears in Holidazed and married fellow actor Eddie Gheorghe in April, typically serves as “the catalyst to get the tree.”

“That was our job,” he explains of their family tradition during her childhood. “She begged me incessantly, ‘Daddy, can we have lights? Can we do this?’ And then I said, ‘Yeah, okay. All right.’ But now, she's living in another place, so I'm kind of like I'm drifting into curmudgeon land where I don't do anything until I go to see her.”

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Katherine being pregnant with a baby girl makes the Golden Globe nominee feel like he might stop being a curmudgeon when he becomes a grandfather. “The fact that she's having a daughter, I said, ‘Now I'm going to get back into it because I have somebody to spoil,” he says. “I found that Christmas and presents are for the kids.”

But Haysbert believes a few things to be universal at the holidays.  “It's always about gratitude, love, togetherness and camaraderie,” he says, “so you can't lose with that whether you have ornaments or lights or not.”

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New episodes of Holidazed premiere Thursdays on Hallmark+.

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