Leonardo DiCaprio may need spent the summer entertaining models on an eight-week Mediterranean cruise but other actors don’t have it pretty much as good in the course of the SAG-AFTRA strike.
The truth is, less famous actors and actresses are hustling to make ends meet, moving from acting to driving for Uber, working as a private trainer or sending out birthday greetings on Cameo.
Amongst them is Cheyenne Jackson, who posted a shirtless thirst trap on Instagram on July 24, letting fans know in probably the most arresting way that he is accessible on the Cameo app. The post has been deleted since then, and Jackson wouldn’t comment for this story through his publicist.
Hollywood has been officially shut down since May 2, when the sooner Writers Guild of America strike began.
![Leonardo Di Caprio and Tobey Maguire wearing baseball caps in Europe](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/NYPICHPDPICT000020290859.jpg?w=767)
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The acting union SAG-AFTRA walked out on July 14, and under the terms of the labor dispute, actors can’t promote their current projects, audition for brand spanking new ones or attend film festivals or events like ComicCon.
And because the strike heads into fall, and possibly winter, the situation is getting dire. “Pose” star Billy Porter told the London Evening Standard that he may have to sell his house due to the situation.
“I used to be supposed to be in a recent movie, and on a recent television show starting in September,” the Emmy winner said. “None of that is going on. So, to the one who said, ‘we’re going to starve them out until they’ve to sell their apartments,’ you’ve already starved me out.”
![Cheyenne Jackson](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/NYPICHPDPICT000010180715.jpg?w=819)
![Julian Gant and Cheyenne Jackson in](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/NYPICHPDPICT000015173695.jpg?w=1024)
(Porter can be within the midst of a divorce from swimsuit designer Adam Smith after six years of marriage. A request for comment was not returned by Porter’s publicist.)
Even before the SAG-AFTRA strike the struggling actor has all the time existed.
Out of SAG-AFTRA’s 160,000 members 87% don’t make $26,000 a yr, the qualifying threshold to be eligible for the union’s healthcare.
![Billy Porter](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/NYPICHPDPICT000012761644.jpg?w=763)
Emil Beheshti, who has appeared in movies and TV shows like “Ford v Ferrari,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Yellowstone,” “American Crime Story” and “The Resident,” has all the time had a side hustle since moving to Los Angeles 24 years ago to pursue acting full time.
The Recent York native properly kept a couple of gigs in his back pocket, including working as a Medicare insurance broker and, until recently, owning a vending machine business.
With the looming double strike, Beheshti, a father of two, added one other profession to his resume by getting his substitute teaching license last spring. He began teaching in LA area schools at the top of the last semester.
![Emil Beheshti in](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/NYPICHPDPICT000025295109.jpg?w=1024)
![Actors and writers on a joint picket line](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/NYPICHPDPICT000025295200.jpg?w=1024)
“Studios were preparing for the strikes,” Beheshti said. “Nobody wanted to get caught in the midst of production, so that they began to decelerate filming. I had two or three on-camera and voiceover jobs that went through May, but once the WGA strike happened, all television shut down.”
With school starting back up in LA next week, Beheshti anticipates getting called up soon. He’s also leaning into his insurance work more since it’s a gentle business.
“Being an insurance broker has all the time been a side thing,” he said. “It’s not something I ever really advertise. But I’ve form of enjoyed it secretly. It’s real-world stuff, and a product that everybody needs once they turn 65.”
![Ilana Becker and Kylie Victoria Edwards (left) in](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/NYPICHPDPICT000025295995.jpg?w=1024)
![Ilana Becker as “Irritabelle” for Viberzi, an IBS-D medication.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/NYPICHPDPICT000025296206.jpg?w=1024)
Ilana Becker pivoted to what she knows best — pitching products. The actress has worked steadily for 15 years on TV shows like “Ghosts,” “Law & Order” and “Odd Mom Out,” but she is recognized most for her commercials, including being the campy spokesperson referred to as “Irritabelle” for Viberzi, an IBS-D medication.
The Recent Yorker is now leveraging her selling skills as an influencer on Instagram, @lanibecker, hawking brands like Stuart Weitzman, Rag & Bone, Ouidad, Laura Geller cosmetics and Mally Beauty.
“What’s unique about this case is that you might have a big swath of actors, me included, who’ve been fully employed as actors for many years who haven’t had to have side jobs for the vast majority of their adult lives,” Becker said.
![An image from Becker's instagram](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/NYPICHPDPICT000025898715-1.jpg?w=576)
![An image from Becker's instagram](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/NYPICHPDPICT000025898713-1.jpg?w=576)
“So now we’re forced to search for supplementary income, having not exercised every other skillset.
“In college, I used to be a waitress for 3 days and I had a panic attack. I don’t have a driver’s license, so Uber is out. I did Cameo a couple of years ago but I got some strange requests that made me uncomfortable.”
Selling products through her Instagram aligned with Becker’s passion for storytelling. “If I can do commercials for television, why can’t I do them on my page?” she identified.
While Becker wouldn’t reveal how much she is making from online marketing, she noted that the checks can take months to arrive.
Becker sees a way of urgency happening because the strike drags on. “We’re on the tipping point where everyone seems to be hanging onto the last vestiges of their income,” she said.
![Ilana Becker joins the SAG- AFTRA picket line](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/NYPICHPDPICT000025295369.jpg?w=1024)
For “Orange Is The Recent Black” star Alysia Reiner, the strike has been a chance to give back, namely to her Fire Island, Recent York, community, where she took shelter together with her family in the course of the pandemic.
The Saltaire resident spent this summer working as a volunteer firefighter and ambulance driver.
It’s a vital need; the town has no cars, police or hospital. In the autumn of 2021, Reiner took Recent York State’s Firefighter 1, a three-month intensive course.
The ultimate exam included a four-hour written test and a four-hour physical exam with tasks like climbing a ladder wearing 80-pounds of apparatus and blindfolded maneuvers.
![Alysia Reiner plays Natalie “Fig” Figueroa in](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/NYPICHPDPICT000025296303.jpg?w=1024)
The “Ms. Marvel” actress graduated in December 2021 and then passed the state’s EVOC training this past June, allowing her to drive emergency vehicles.
“I’ll either be lying on the beach or with friends having dinner, and unexpectedly, the siren will go off and we run to the firehouse, and we’re of service,” Reiner noted. This summer, she even drove a shark bite victim to the hospital.
“I feel plugged right into a community, which may be very much what we as actors miss once we’re not allowed to be on set,” the “How To Get Away With Murder” series regular said. “And I feel plugged into being of service and making a difference.”
The busy actress wouldn’t normally have the time to be so lively together with her volunteer firehouse. “Last summer I shot three movies,” Reiner said.
![Alysia Reiner, ambulance driver.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/NYPICHPDPICT000025314302.jpg?w=768)
![Alysia Reiner in firefighter unuiform](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/NYPICHPDPICT000025314284.jpg?w=768)
“I’m very, very, very lucky because I’m a working actor, so it’s rare that I am going greater than a pair weeks without some form of a gig. So, this has really helped me from pulling my hair out.”
She’s also an activist, who has been a well-known sight on the SAG-AFTRA picket lines in each Recent York and LA.
Known for her role as Natalie “Fig” Figueroa on “Orange Is The Recent Black,” she has been vocal in regards to the inequity of residuals on streaming services, especially considering her show boosted a then fledgling Netflix’s platform ten years ago and won multiple awards.
“We helped construct their brand,” Reiner emphasized.