On Sunday, the actor Cheyenne Jackson had an epiphany while on tour for his one-man show. He thought about how his friend Kathy Bates had helped him get an uncredited role on “Matlock” last year. That single part paid him enough to qualify him for health insurance through the Screen Actors Guild, known also as SAG-AFTRA.
Jackson, an alum of shows like “30 Rock” and “American Horror Story,” decided to solicit stories from professional actors who needed just one more onscreen acting gig of any type to earn health insurance. He called the campaign “One Job Away.”
For an actor to remain insured through SAG-AFTRA, they must typically make a minimum amount of money from on-screen work and residuals. Leveraging his Instagram following of almost 750,000, Jackson began posting headshots of performers, their biographies and how many dollars away each was from crossing that threshold, which this year is $28,090.
He is hoping leading actors, producers, directors and casting agents will keep these performers in mind as they seek talent for parts big and small.
For many actors, work has been difficult to find in the aftermath of Covid, when consumers shifted away from traditional television and the production of prestige shows started to scale back. Hollywood studios, seeing dips in viewership, have ordered fewer shows than they did a decade ago. That has left once-busy actors scrambling for work.
In addition, the industry also has not recovered from grueling separate strikes by Hollywood writers and actors in 2023.
“The last three years have been pretty lean,” Jackson said in an interview. “I have had to really do things that I never thought I would do before just to keep that SAG insurance.”
Like many working actors, Jackson, 51, isn’t just insuring himself.
“I have 10-year-old twins. They’re in braces. My daughter broke her foot,” he said. “I need insurance.”
Jackson’s posts have resonated. He said his inbox has been filled with hundreds of submissions from actors hoping to get posted — an indication of how difficult the industry has become for performers.
“It’s really beautiful and it’s a little overwhelming because there’s a lot of really, really powerful and emotional stories,” Jackson said. “People that have been working for years and years and then this year, if they’re the sole breadwinner and they’re like 200 bucks short of the S.A.G. minimum, like.”
He said many of these actors are recognizable to TV viewers and moviegoers, if not well known.
Miho Saito, an actress featured by Jackson, said on Tuesday that she is only $402 away from making the minimum for insurance this year. Most of Saito’s paid roles have been in commercials, including parts for the U.S. Postal Service and Uber.
“You have to kind of be a little insane to like want to keep doing this,” Saito said. She added that actors like her “have multiple part-time jobs or a freelance gig to fuel our acting career.”
Others he has featured have a more daunting gap to fill this year.
One is Bayne Gibby, who has television credits on HBO shows like “The Comeback” with Lisa Kudrow and “Enlightened” with Laura Dern. She has only booked one part this year, on a streaming commercial for e.l.f. Cosmetics, playing a role titled “Toenail Clipper.”
“Literally, the audition was me trimming my toenails,” Gibby said. “And I’m laughing. I’m like, ‘Some day this will be really funny.’”
At that moment, she said, all she wanted was to “book that toenail-clipper gig,” which still left her $25,000 short of what she would need to get insured.
“This is an industry where everybody is trying to spin what they’re doing and making it look more impressive, not less impressive,” Gibby said. “And so it’s not really until you start digging and asking people how they’re doing, that they’re kind of willing to just now admit, ‘I lost my insurance and I’m really struggling and I am really scared.’”
She added that she’s grateful for what Jackson has done.
“One Job Away” has gotten enough attention that Jackson has launched a separate Instagram account for it, and he hopes to continue platforming actors who need the boost. He said that he has heard from several casting directors who have reached out with advice.
“Everyone seems very supportive and eager to help and utilize the idea,” Jackson said.
He admires the actors willing to publicize their struggles with finding work, and hopes more will be inspired.
“That’s hard for people. And I really acknowledge that,” Jackson said. “But I want people to not be ashamed and actually just say the thing.”
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