What I Know: Jacqueline Buckingham Anderson

The actress and entrepreneur on acting, adventure, and why she doesn’t wear everything she used to.
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I have many roles. Mother. Wife. Entrepreneur. Actress. CEO. Certified yoga teacher—that’s a new one for me. When people ask me what I do, I say, “I’m a woman.”
 
Who would I like to be? Wonder Woman. She does it all. And has an invisible plane.
 
The next trip I’m planning is to the Himalayas. I will bring no accessories, except maybe something to tie back my hair. I like to pack light.

This has been the year of investing in flats. I used to have a much higher tolerance for uncomfortable shoes.
For a New York actor, being on Law & Order is like a badge of honor. Sam Waterston gave me the biggest acting compliment I think I’ve ever received. After a big crying scene, he said, “That was beautiful, truthful, and honest.”
I still get checks from that episode.
My goal is to make Indianapolis the most unlikely style capital in the world.
I grew up in Texas. Texas women don’t have fashion dictated to them. If they want to wear a hot-pink cowboy hat with a matching hot-pink leather ensemble, then by God, they will do it.
I have retired some of the dresses I wore in my 20s. I’m in a different place now.
Once, I wore a Gaultier Couture dress to a museum benefit, and it was flown in straight from Paris, right off the runway. It arrived an hour before I was supposed to be there. That was insane. I had no Plan B.
Now, I don’t just want to wear a dress—I want to own it. It’s more of a grown-up way of looking at it.
But if Gaultier Couture calls and says, “Would you please wear this dress?” I might have to give it some thought.
 
This interview originally appeared in the April 2011 issue.