John Gallagher Jr. Instagram – I’m taking a cue from the GOAT @msmelanielynskey here. As you can see from this questionable old headshot (why the sleeveless tee?!) I’ve been working as an actor for a while now. I’m not exactly sure when I got my @sagaftra card but I was still a teenager so it must’ve been around the time this picture was taken. I’ve been extremely fortunate to work fairly steadily throughout my 23 years in this volatile and ever evolving industry. Work has been waining for me in the last few years though as it has been for many performers. A combination of factors including the pandemic, slowing momentum, plain old aging, changing trends, a pickiness about what roles I accept that I’ve been privileged enough to try and maintain and now this necessary but disruptive reckoning with the forces and factors of corporate greed that have slowly been eroding protections for the workers over the last decade. With so much at stake, not just for me but the entire profession, I feel the vital need to stand strong and proud in solidarity during this strike with my fellow actors/writers/creators and human beings who only wish to be paid fairly for their work and not be replaced by AI. It’s not an unreasonable ask. As the late, great Richard Manuel once sung, “I’m a union man now, all the way.” ✊🏻