‘American Horror Story’ Star Reveals Being ‘One Job Away’ From Losing Health Care Until Oscar-Winner Stepped In to Help

Getty

“Beverly Hills, 90210” alum Ian Ziering famously signed on to “Sharknado” in order to boost his income as he was about to lose his SAG-AFTRA union health-care benefits just as his wife became pregnant — only for the campy, silly TV movie to become a pop-culture sensation that revived his career.

Another well-known actor is stepping forward to reveal that he too hit a dry spell that nearly left him without health benefits: Cheyenne Jackson, whose numerous credits include “30 Rock,” “American Horror Story,” “Glee” and starring roles in several Broadway musicals.

‘Sign Me Up!’

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Jackson recalled the moment he realized that he hadn’t hit the minimum threshold of earnings — approximately $28,000 — to maintain health care for himself, his husband and their 11-year-old twins.

“Auditions weren’t coming in. It was just a really lean, lean time,” Jackson told the Times. “I think I just took my insurance for granted. I thought it would always happen.”

Feeling panicked that his family would lose their health care, he reached out to a good friend: Oscar winner Kathy Bates, with whom he’d co-starred in a few seasons of “American Horror Story.”

According to Jackson, he sent a text to Bates, who is currently starring in the hit CBS reboot of “Matlock.” Five minutes later, she called him to say, “I have good news and bad news,” Jackson recalled.

The good news? She’d been able to land him a role on “Matlock,” in which she plays criminal defense attorney Madeline “Matty” Matlock. The bad news: his character only had four lines, and didn’t even have a name.

Under the circumstances, Jackson was quick to set his ego aside.

“I was like, ‘Sign me up!’” Jackson said. “I was grateful, and I showed up and did my four lines.”

Bates, he marveled, had “really paid it forward.”

As Jackson explained, the life of an actor can be feast or famine, with one year bringing in $300K from acting, while another year he might be lucky to earn just five percent of that amount.

In addition to his “Matlock” gig, he managed to scrape together just enough to qualify by taking on some commercials and acting in a low-paying “microdrama” filmed via smartphone.

“I ended up doing a few things that I have never done before and never thought I would,” Jackson admitted.

A Widespread Issue

Sadly, Jackson’s story is far from an isolated one. As the Times pointed out, last month “I Saw the TV Glow” star Jack Haven posted a video on YouTube to admit they were “in a bit of an emergency situation,” revealing they needed to earn $4,000 via acting by the end of the month or risk losing health insurance.

In the video, Haven pleads for work, confirming they’d do “pretty much any job.” In a subsequent video, Haven reveals they “got a lot of offers,” and “didn’t expect this many people to see the video.”

Another actor in that same boat was Drake Bell, one-time star of Nickelodeon hit “Drake & Josh.” Taking to Instagram Stories, he posted a screenshot of SAG-AFTRA’s health plan website, indicating that his earnings were about $11,450 short in order to quality for health-care insurance.

“Do not become an actor. Do not join SAG,” Bell wrote in his post, using a middle finger emoji while tagging SAG-AFTRA president Sean Astin.