For actress Jackie Dallas, the path to the screen wasn’t a straight shot through the arts, it began in medicine. Before gracing shows like Stranger Things, Dark Matter, and most recently Netflix’s The Hunting Wives, Jackie was on a very different professional journey. While she grew up with a passion for acting, growing up Asian in a small Florida town, it never felt like a career option.
Jackie instead followed a more traditional path, attending medical school and eventually beginning a residency in pathology. But a life-altering moment came when her then-long-distance partner matched into a program in California while she was based in Chicago. “We had to have a discussion, what do we do? Do we try long distance for X number of years?” she recalled. “I was like, I don’t love what I do right now… and if I could do something that makes me happy, I’m totally fine starting over from scratch.”
That reset brought her to California, and back to acting. “I found a bunch of friends that were actors and I would pick their brains, ask a hundred questions, figure out how to pursue it more professionally. Fast forward a few years, here I am.”
Booking ‘The Hunting Wives’
Jackie Dallas stars in The Hunting Wives, a new Netflix series Variety called “a very zany, very gay, red state murder mystery.” When asked if that was an accurate description, she laughed, “That sums it up very well.”
She got the part the way many modern actors do: through a self-tape audition. “I got the audition through my agent in the Southeast. We filmed in Charlotte, it takes place in Texas, but we filmed in Charlotte,” she explained. “I’m currently based in L.A. so I said, hey, this sounds really fun.”
While most roles include multiple rounds of callbacks or chemistry reads, Jackie was booked straight from her self-tape. “A couple days, maybe a week later, my agent called me super early, he’s based on the East Coast, like 6:30am. He said, ‘What are you doing on these dates?’ I was like, ‘I have no idea. What am I doing, Terry?’” she laughed.
Only after hearing she’d booked the role did she realize what it was for. “It took me a second… but yeah, it was really exciting. I like to think my tape was just that great.”
Jackie was already a fan of the show’s creator Rebecca Cutter. “She always has these really good, complex female characters,” she said. “When I saw her name and the breakdown of this salacious, sexy murder thriller in Texas, I was like, oh this could be a really fun show.”
From Science to Storytelling
Jackie’s previous career in medicine hasn’t been wasted, if anything, it gave her an unexpected edge when she first transitioned into acting. “Breaking out as an actor in Hollywood is so hard, so competitive,” she noted. “You have to figure out what sets you apart.”
Her first credits? “Roles like a nurse on The Resident on Fox, EMTs, paramedics on Young and the Restless,” she said. “I kind of think having ‘real-life doctor’ on my resume helped me stand out to casting. If I didn’t have that, it would have been a lot more challenging to get those early credits.”
And yes, medical dramas are still on the wish list. “I would embrace that with open arms,” she said. “It would be so exciting to be able to say, ‘I’m a doctor and I play one on TV.’”
Lessons from the Craft
Jackie has worked with major platforms from Netflix to Prime Video and Apple TV+, yet she still feels like she’s learning every time. “Every role is different. Every production is different. Every story is different,” she said. “Even every day is different.”
She avoids chasing just one genre or type. “I like to think of them all kind of fresh… getting to tap into different character traits, different nuances, it’s all kind of the fun of dressing up and playing make-believe.”
With several Netflix credits under her belt, Stranger Things, 13 Reasons Why, and now The Hunting Wives, does she feel like part of the Netflix family? “I do,” she smiled. “I love Netflix. I’ve heard that some studios have a list of names they’ve worked with before… maybe I’m on a list somewhere. That’s really nice to think about.”
When asked for advice to aspiring actors, Jackie paused thoughtfully. “Do your research and be prepared,” she said, before adding with a grin, “But don’t give up the dream.”
You can see Jackie Dallas in The Hunting Wives streaming now on Netflix.
