Meet Brian — the Santa Behind House of Kringle
Founder, lead performer, and the real-bearded Santa Claus of House of Kringle — live and virtual Santa visits for families across Los Angeles & Orange County since 2016.
Founder, lead performer, and the real-bearded Santa Claus of House of Kringle — live and virtual Santa visits for families across Los Angeles & Orange County since 2016.
Brian J. Cook has spent his life on stage. A performer since childhood, he found his way to Santa Claus the way the best Santas do — naturally, once his beard turned white. A theater friend running a character-performer company suggested he’d be a natural in the red suit and would love every minute of it. They were right on both counts.
Today, Brian is one of Southern California’s most-booked real-bearded Santas. He has portrayed Santa Claus in commercials and films as a full member of SAG-AFTRA, and has served as the Santa Claus at Los Angeles’s historic Union Station since 2017. Families across Los Angeles and Orange County have left dozens of five-star reviews for his visits.
Brian came to performing full-time after a 35-year career in software development and corporate technical support — a background that shows up in how House of Kringle runs: prepared, dependable, and detail-obsessed. He renews a professional background check every year and carries entertainer’s liability insurance, because earning a family’s trust is the whole job.
For Brian, portraying Santa Claus is an honor and a privilege. “Being part of another family’s holiday traditions is something I don’t take for granted,” he says. “Watching an adult rediscover the magic of Christmas through their child’s eyes — that’s the most heartwarming thing in the world.”