Actor Cheyenne Jackson's 'One Job Away' campaign connects SAG members to jobs before health coverage lapses

Cheyenne Jackson has appeared in more than 40 television series — 'American Horror Story,' 'Glee,' '30 Rock,' 'Call Me Kat' among them — and last year he still came up roughly $6,000 short of keeping his health insurance. The plan covered not just him but his husband Jason and their two children. So he called in a favor from an old castmate, and the result was a nameless detective with four or five lines and one thing to say: 'Hey, Sergeant, we got some blood over here.'

That small rescue, arranged by Kathy Bates in under five minutes, is now the founding story of 'One Job Away,' an Instagram campaign Jackson launched in late October that has drawn hundreds of submissions and put a precise dollar figure on a problem the industry rarely discusses openly.

I know what it feels like to be one job away… and what it means when someone actually comes through. Sometimes we all need somebody to put our name in the room.— Cheyenne Jackson, actor

The campaign works simply: actors submit their headshot, credits, contact information, and how far they are from the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan's earnings minimum. Jackson posts them to his public Instagram profile, where 743,000 followers — including casting directors and producers — can see them. The goal is to make it easy for someone with a small role to fill to find the right person and close the gap.

The threshold Jackson and others are racing to meet is $28,933 in covered earnings for benefit periods beginning in 2027, or $28,090 for those beginning in 2026, according to Gayety. An alternative path is 108 eligibility days calculated from covered session earnings — which does not necessarily mean 108 days physically worked. Residual income, Jackson noted, does not always count toward the qualifying minimum, meaning a strong year of reruns can leave an actor no better off come enrollment time.

An actor can make $500,000 one year, but when they don't make much the next year, the $500,000 doesn't help with the following year's health insurance minimum.— Cheyenne Jackson, actor

The shortfalls being posted are sometimes startlingly small. Broadway producer Dominick Laruffa Jr. was $2,471.19 away. Actor Miho Saito needed $402. Juston Graber was $198.48 short, according to Gayety. Actor Joe Camareno told CBS News he had earned more than double the qualifying amount in the calendar year but that the placement of his eligibility windows left him $6,500 shy of coverage.

It just means I lose coverage. I lose access to my doctors. I made more than double the amount to qualify this calendar year, but because of where my windows are situated… it means that I'm currently shy about $6,500.— Joe Camareno, actor, director and producer

For actors with families, the stakes are immediate. Julie Marchiano told CBS News that she and her husband are both currently out of work. She described COBRA as "really expensive, especially for, at this point, an almost zero income house." With a 3-year-old child, she added, "being able to have insurance for me, my husband and my family would be really meaningful, obviously."

Jackson said submissions arrived in the hundreds within less than a day. He posted the first batch during a layover in Atlanta, then created a dedicated account — @one.job.away — and a separate email address after his direct messages filled up. He wrote that he did not want anyone to get lost in the DMs, according to Gayety. He also told CBS News that several prominent casting directors have already reached out.

By late October, the performers Jackson had featured included Trace Lysette, Daniel Franzese of 'Mean Girls,' Jai Rodriguez of 'Rent' and the original 'Queer Eye,' and Tony nominee Eden Espinosa. Jamie Lee Curtis reposted some of the posts. The campaign has also shed light on a wider pattern in which transgender and nonbinary performers have spoken publicly about work drying up; in September, Jack Haven of 'Atypical' posted a YouTube video stating that they needed $4,000 by the end of the month to secure coverage beginning in January, according to The Independent as cited by PinkNews.

Drake Bell went public earlier in October, posting that he had earned $17,480.53 in covered earnings against a $28,933 requirement. 'Do not become an actor. Do not join SAG,' he wrote, according to Gayety.

I wish they would just change the system. This annual game is a demented recipe for disaster. And the insurance isn't even great.— Peppermint, actor and Broadway performer

Jackson has said he wants the campaign to open a larger conversation rather than assign blame. In speaking with CBS News, he expressed willingness to meet with SAG-AFTRA leaders to discuss possible solutions. When CBS News' Los Angeles station asked the union for comment, officials directed them to the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan, which they described as a separate organization. A plan spokesperson said approximately 25,000 participants were covered at the end of 2025, up nearly 1,000 from the year before, and that final 2026 numbers are not yet available.

I don't want to play a blame game. What I do want to do is start engaging in a bigger conversation because clearly the system is not working right now.— Cheyenne Jackson, actor

Starshine Pictures producer Diana Zollicoffer told CBS News she hires actors under SAG-AFTRA contracts specifically so their pay counts toward insurance eligibility, but said the ability to hire depends heavily on production tax incentives. She put it simply: "If we can get the incentives to produce, then we can hire."

We are paycheck to paycheck, and we are just doing the best that we can. So, I would say, hang in there. You're not alone.— Cheyenne Jackson, actor

Why it matters — The campaign puts a public, dollar-specific face on a structural gap in how working actors — even experienced ones with families — can lose health coverage despite active careers, and it is prompting the first open industry conversation about whether the eligibility system itself needs to change.

Sources differ on Number of lines in Cheyenne Jackson's 'Matlock' role: Five lines (thepinknews.com, gayety.com) vs Four lines (cbsnews.com)

Reported by thepinknews.com, people.com, gayety.com, variety.com, cbsnews.com