Biography

Jim Hackett is a classically trained actor who graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. To avoid the draft and please his father, a World War II Marine veteran, he enlisted in the US Marine Corps and served two combat tours in Vietnam. He is a Purple Heart recipient.

Honorably discharged in 1970, Hackett returned to New York and worked off-Broadway with Joseph Papp at the New York Shakespeare Festival. Jim signed with the prestigious Abrams/Rubaloff Talent Agency and performed in over 40 national commercials and voice-overs. Notable spots include Folgers Coffee with Mrs. Olsen, Skippy Peanut Butter with Annette Funicello, and the award-winning Ray Jay Johnson/Anheuser Busch beer commercials with Norm Crosby. He also starred as the spokesman for AM/PM Mini Mart, Bounce Fabric Softener, and Oreo Cookies.

Jim guest-starred on many television series in the 1980s, including Love Boat, Benson, Dallas, Growing Pains, A Family for Joe with Robert Mitchum, and Life with Lucy opposite Lucille Ball and Audrey Meadows. When acting roles slowed in the 1990s, he created Visual Systems, which provided computer and presentation services to writers and producers at Paramount Studios. This led to a contract with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory supporting the first successful Mars Lander project. When the company was acquired by Lockheed Martin in 2014, Jim returned to acting and has since performed in starring and supporting roles in feature films and television, including Guillotine, Blood Before Bitcoin, The Lady Makers, 72 Hours, and the Tubi TV series Spilled Paint.
- IMDb mini biography by: Updated July 2026