Dawn Olivieri Says Move to Arkansas Ranch Brought More Work Than LA
Actress Dawn Olivieri, 45, told Fox News Digital she left Los Angeles in 2022 for a 160-acre property near Mena, Arkansas, and now works more than before. She stars in the second season of Angel Studios' drama "Homestead: The Series" and runs an animal sanctuary.
Dawn Olivieri, the 45-year-old actress who appeared in "Yellowstone," said in an interview published November 10, 2026, that leaving Los Angeles for a ranch in rural Arkansas made her a better actress and brought her more work than she had in Hollywood.
Olivieri is starring in the second season of Angel Studios' post-apocalyptic drama "Homestead: The Series." She spoke to Fox News Digital about the lull in her career that pushed her to change course.
"I realized it wasn't giving me what my dream of what it was supposed to give me," Olivieri said of Hollywood.
From a dry spell to a ranch
She described a period when offers stopped arriving. "I went through a dry spell, and I was like, 'Wow, so this is an illusion,'" she said.
Olivieri said she decided against waiting by the phone for someone to hire her. She asked herself what she would do with money and success, and the answer was to move to the country and keep horses. So she did it, she said, "with nothing."
In 2022, she left LA and bought a 160-acre property outside Mena, Arkansas. The following year she founded Moon Mountain Sanctuary and Rescue, a nonprofit that rescues and rehabilitates hundreds of horses and other animals.
During an August appearance on the "Let's Talk Local" podcast, Olivieri said she was living in a camper on the property while she kept building and expanding the ranch and sanctuary.
More acting work after the move
Olivieri said giving up control of her career helped it. "I became a better actress for sure," she said. "I started working way more than I did when I was in LA waiting for the job, waiting for the call."
She called her new home a "land of no mirrors." She said she formed a deep relationship with the core of her being rather than with how she looked. "I would recommend that move to anybody," she added.
Charles Esten, her "Homestead: The Series" co-star, joined the interview and agreed that letting go of pressure can help 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.
