Actor Cheyenne Jackson was 'one job away' from losing SAG-AFTRA healthcare. Now, he's helping others
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Set us as preferred Actor and singer Cheyenne Jackson, who has starred on Broadway and held roles on dozens of television series including “American Horror Story,” “30 Rock” and “Glee,” had never considered that he might lose his health insurance.But in a grim moment last year, he realized he was several thousand dollars short of the roughly $28,000-annual minimum to qualify for healthcare through actors union SAG-AFTRA.Otherwise, he would lose the plan that also covered his husband and their 11-year-old twins.
“Auditions weren’t coming in.It was just a really lean, lean time,” Jackson said.
“I think I just took my insurance for granted.I thought it would always happen.”Jackson and other actors are speaking openly about struggles qualifying for SAG-AFTRA healthcare amid declines in film and television production in Hollywood, an exodus of film jobs abroad, job loss from industry consolidation and concerns of AI incursions.
Jackson reflected on the experience while on a layover Sunday in Atlanta’s airport for his one-man musical act, “Midlife Torso Tour.” He decided to offer to spotlight other union members on social media who were short on their earnings.Within 24 hours of posting about the project idea on Instagram, he had received hundreds of messages, he said.Jackson credited his friend Kathy Bates, the Oscar- and Emmy-winning actor he worked with on four seasons of “American Horror Story,” for helping him pull through last year.
He had texted her describing his plight.She called him back within five minutes and told him, “I have good news and bad news,” he recalled.The good news, she explained, was that she got him a part on “Matlock,” the CBS reimagining of an ’80s legal drama where she stars as a brilliant criminal defense attorney.
The bad news was that he would have only fo...