“Yellowstone” alum Dawn Olivieri is opening up about the turning point that drove her to leave Los Angeles behind and build the life that she actually wanted on a ranch and animal sanctuary in rural Arkansas.
During an interview with Fox News Digital, the 45-year-old actress, who is starring in the second season of Angel Studios’ post-apocalyptic drama “Homestead: The Series,” shared how she became disillusioned with Hollywood during a lull in her career after years of chasing acting success.
“I realized it wasn’t giving me what my dream of what it was supposed to give me,” Olivieri said.
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“It wasn’t cooperating,” she continued. “I didn’t have offers, just like falling out of my phone. I went through a dry spell, and I was like, ‘Wow, so this is an illusion.'”
“I kind of saw through the veil and once I saw through veil — I realized in that moment, I have to make some decisions about my life that makes me happy — [it] isn’t always waiting by the phone, losing my power, waiting for someone to hire me,” Olivieri recalled. “I’m like, ‘Oh, what am I doing?’”
“I just jumped ahead,” she explained. “I go, ‘If I did make all this money and was successful, what would I do with it?’ Well, I would move to the country and have horses and OK, well, I guess let me go do that. Let me, let me see what. And so I did that with nothing. Which wasn’t the dream part, but in actuality, it was what was always meant to happen because I moved toward my own authenticity.”
In 2022, the actress left LA and bought a 160-acre property outside Mena, Arkansas. The following year, Olivieri founded the nonprofit organization Moon Mountain Sanctuary and Rescue, which rescues and rehabilitates hundreds of horses and other animals.
During an August appearance on the “Let’s Talk Local” podcast, Olivieri said she is currently living in a camper on the property while she continues to build and expand her ranch and animal sanctuary.
While speaking with Fox News Digital, Olivieri reflected on the unexpected result that came from her decision to leave Hollywood and create the lifestyle she had always envisioned, explaining that giving up control of her acting career ultimately improved it.
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“I think in that moment, I became a better human being,” she said. “I became a better actress for sure. I started working way more than I did when I was in LA waiting for the job, waiting for the call.”
“And I moved to a land of no mirrors is what I called it,” Olivieri continued.. “I went into a deep relationship with the core of my being versus what everything looked like, what I looked like.”
“And I would recommend that move to anybody,” she added.
Olivieri’s “Homestead: The Series” co-star Charles Esten, who joined her for the interview, agreed that letting go of the pressure to land the next role can sometimes have the opposite effect in Hollywood.
“It’s not just Hollywood, it’s the whole world that — but especially Hollywood — can smell that desperation of, ‘I need this to get that,’” Esten said.
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“The second you sort of don’t hold so tightly and you have sort of more philosophy of abundance and let it a little looser. Or another way is just give it up,” he continued. “I don’t mean give it up by quit doing it, but give up the need and the desperation on it. And then they finally go, ‘Hey, you want to come do a show?’”
“Yeah, literally, that’s what happened,” Olivieri replied.
Olivieri pointed out that many other actors faced a dramatic decrease in work opportunities in recent years due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2023 SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike.
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“But I had a very clear decision that I was willing to give up this identity of being an actress,” she said. “And maybe if I had to sell farm fresh eggs on the side of the road, I would do that just to keep my freedom.”
“Homestead: The Series” follows survivors living at a fortified prepper compound in the Rocky Mountains known as The Homestead after a nuclear attack on LA plunges the country into chaos. Olivieri plays Jenna Ross, the wife of Ian Ross (Neal McDonough), the wealthy prepper who established the Homestead, while Esten portrays Cain Ross, Ian’s estranged brother.
After Ian is incapacitated and later dies, Jenna is pushed into a leadership role and struggles with how to protect the community while maintaining her compassionate approach toward outsiders. Meanwhile, Cain arrives at the Homestead after Ian’s injury and takes a much more hardline approach to survival and leadership.
In season two, which premiered on Nov. 3, Jenna and Cain find themselves in conflict over how the compound should be run as resources dwindle.
Olivieri was part of the cast in the 2024 theatrical movie “Homestead,” which introduces the story. Esten joined the cast for the first season of “Homestead: The Series,” which picks up where the movie left off. The show also stars Kevin Lawson Emmanuel McCord, Jesse Hutch and Betzaida Landín.
While speaking with Fox News Digital, Olivieri and Esten shared their thoughts on why more Americans are increasingly interested in homesteading, growing their own food and moving away from big cities.
“People are thinking about it because everything else is becoming toxic in all truth,” Olivieri said. “Our food system has gone toxic because of profit. Our way of life in a city has become toxic because of overpopulation potentially or, again, I really think the root of it is profit and money and commerce.”
“In this state of government, being open and available is just a nicer experience,” she added. “It is for me anyway.”
Esten drew a contrast between Olivieri’s homesteading and the gritty survivalism depicted on “Homestead: The Series.”
“Dawn’s homesteading that I’ve noticed is beautiful,” he said. “Our version of homestead is very extraordinary necessity, fear-based. Plant these fences and Dawn’s is the opposite of that. Dawn’s very open and welcoming and saving animals that need it and welcoming other folks on.”
After Olivieri embraced rural life and stopped waiting for Hollywood to call, the actress went on to land major roles in Taylor Sheridan’s universe. Olivieri played Claire Dutton, the widowed sister of James Dutton (Tim McGraw), in 2021’s “1883.”
From 2022 to 2024, Olivieri portrayed Sarah Atwood, the corporate strategist brought in by Market Equities who becomes involved with Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley), in “Yellowstone.” She has a recurring role as CIA officer Amber Whalen on “Lioness” and most recently made a guest appearance in “The Madison.”
While speaking with Fox News Digital, Olivieri weighed in on what she believes sets the prolific creator apart from others in Hollywood.
“He doesn’t ask for permission to do anything,” she said. “He listens to his North, his guide, and he writes textured, powerful human beings, especially women, which I find is very, very rare.”
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“He writes them like it’s coming from inside of himself,” Olivieri continued. “I’ve talked to him about this because he will write things for a strong woman that makes you read it on the page and then look around, like, ‘Is someone watching me? How are you in my head?’”
Olivieri recalled asking Sheridan how he was able to write female characters with such insight.
“I went to him and I said, ‘How do you know how to do that?’ And he told me point blank, he said his mom was a strong woman,” she remembered. “So he had a very, very, very close example of how strong women move and what they do and how they think and the way that they talk.”
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“He writes things poetically,” she continued. “He has texture. There’s magic in the way that he writes and it’s just undeniable. And he agrees he’s tapped. He’ll sit and wait for the muse and the muse will share the story with him. And that’s how he writes.”
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“It’s no different than all of the great writers in the sense that they are very clear that it’s not quite them,” Olivieri added. “They are a conduit for some energy that flows through them. And he has told me that that’s exactly what happens for him.”
The second season of “Homestead: The Series” is currently streaming on Angel with new episodes released weekly on Tuesdays.