A FORMER FOOTBALL STAR WITH A WOUNDED PAST MUST FIND THE COURAGE TO GO THE FINAL YARD TO HEAL HIS FRACTURED FAMILY

EMMY� AND GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINEE ERIQ LA SALLE, EMMY AND NAACP IMAGE AWARD� WINNER MISS CICELY TYSON, MICHAEL MICHELE AND MICHAEL BEACH STAR IN 'RELATIVE STRANGER' A HALLMARK CHANNEL ORIGINAL MOVIE PREMIERING MARCH 14

Dan Castellaneta ("The Simpsons"), Dana Davis ("Heroes") and Carlos McCullers II ("Psych") Co-Star

A former football star returns home to the family he left six years earlier to find some things have changed, while some have not � mostly within himself. Can a family hurt by a man who once was their hero forgive him? Can he forgive himself, or will he continue to run from his past? Difficult truths must be faced and forgiven in the engaging family drama "Relative Stranger," a Hallmark Channel Original Movie premiering Saturday, March 14 (9/8c). The all-star cast includes Emmy� and Golden Globe nominee Eriq La Salle ("ER"), Emmy and NAACP Image Award� winner Miss Cicely Tyson ("Diary of a Mad Black Woman"), SAG Award� nominee Michael Michele ("ER") and NAACP Image Award winner Michael Beach ("Third Watch").

After learning of the death of his overbearing father, former football hero Walter Clemons (La Salle) comes home to Los Angeles to claim his share of the estate. Having abandoned his family six years earlier, Walter is in for a tough trip � a visit which involves dealing with the hurts he inflicted on his wife, Charlotte (Michele), their children, Denise (Davis) and Andy (McCullers) and his own brother, James (Beach), who has become a surrogate father to the kids. Can he count on his mother (Tyson) to help him through this emotional obstacle course, or is it best for all that he return to the empty life from which he came?

While Andy was too young to remember his father � or his leaving - the wounds are still far too fresh for teenager Denise, herself a young athlete, who has no interest in seeing her father return to cause more harm. His estranged wife and brother have each moved on in their own way, challenging Walter's relationships with both. His elderly mother, wise with age, tries to guide the family through their struggles with one another � but will Walter, a recovering alcoholic, be able to survive the emotional onslaught his family brings to the table, as well as his own?

Faith and Family Entertainment Presents "Relative Stranger," an LG Films Production in Association with Larry Levinson Productions. Larry Levinson is the executive producer. Randy Pope and Michael Moran are co-executive producers and Erik Olson is the producer. Veteran helmer Charles Burnett ("To Sleep with Anger") directed from a script by Eric Haywood.

Hallmark Channel, owned and operated by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., is a 24-hour basic cable network that provides a diverse slate of high-quality entertainment programming to a national audience of 86 million subscribers. The top tier program service is distributed through more than 5,450 cable systems and communities as well as direct-to-home satellite services across the country. Hallmark Channel consistently ranks among the top 10 ad-supported cable networks in Prime Time and Total Day household ratings and is the nation's leading network in providing quality family programming. Crown Media also operates a second 24-hour linear channel which plays the greatest family movies of all time, Hallmark Movie Channel, and launched Hallmark Movie Channel HD in April, 2008.