Hicks, who currently lives in Des Moines and works full-time at TITLE Boxing Club, has been a busy woman lately. She appeared in a commercial for CLIF bars, starred as the love interest in the music video for Iowa country singer Alex Arthur’s song “It Is What It Is” and has taken on several film and television roles filmed in the Hawkeye State. On Saturday, she was scheduled to wrap filming her second film project, the sci-fi horror “Operation: Crimson Night” from Marengo-based studio Mediaverse, and will soon begin a third. According to the IMDB page, “Operation: Crimson Night” features several actors who have appeared in director Jude Rawlins’ Marshalltown-area productions in the past, including Cheyenne Goode, Amy Van Holland and Rob Merritt.

“I still model, but that’s now morphed into movies and commercials,” she said. “I’m glad I started modeling. I would say it helped me feel comfortable in front of the camera because modeling kind of fell into my lap. I didn’t want to be a model. I modeled for about three years before I ever got into movies, TV or commercials. I was already pretty secure and confident enough that when they started coming to me, I had that confidence. And now I have other goals.”

In addition to that work, Hicks recently did a reading for a new film called “The Painter,” which is set to begin shooting in Iowa next summer. As grants and incentives begin to come to the state, she expects a flood of film and television projects that don’t require her to move to Los Angeles or Chicago.

She had previously lived in the Windy City for a short time and didn’t notice much difference in the modeling opportunities available to her.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS — Hicks is seen in a full-body suit and carrying a rifle on the set of “Operation: Crimson Night.” She hopes to arrange a premiere at the Orpheum Black Box Theater in Marshalltown.

“I feel very comfortable here in Iowa, and I was just talking about this last night. I don’t know if I want to leave my family and friends as I get older,” she said. “But with these grants coming to Iowa, there’s probably going to be a whole lot of different directors and artists coming to Iowa in the next five to 10 years. So there’s going to be some competition for LA… I’m glad I get to be part of the first use of these grants.”

The aforementioned music video was shot over about eight hours in a small southern Iowa town — Hicks can’t remember which one — and released on July 13. Arthur recently performed at the famed Val-Air Ballroom in West Des Moines and was scheduled to appear onstage at the Iowa State Fair on Saturday. The concept for the song and video, she said, was a reminiscence of a lost love and the singer’s turning to alcohol to numb the pain of a relationship ending.

To be clear, when someone asks her, she still usually introduces herself as a model, as Hicks feels she hasn’t “earned” the title of actress yet. But if her work ethic and recent performances are any indication, that could change very soon.

“It’s crazy how through life and meeting certain people you get ushered into these other roles. I started modeling for one guy and then I did his clothing line. He took me to his music video shoot and then there was this other guy who was in that music video,” she said. “And then we did a TV show together. It’s funny how it just evolves over time. It’s really about who you know.”

And despite all of these opportunities and developments, Marshalltown has always remained close to Hicks’s heart. She is working to organize a premiere of “Operation Crimson Night” at the Orpheum Black Box Theater, citing the fact that Rawlins, who moved to Marshalltown from Britain and shot several of his films in the area (he now lives in West Des Moines), did the same for “Little Johnny Jewel” and “Dream Time.”

“I want to do the same and just pay tribute to my roots and show that I haven’t really left Marshalltown. My heart is there and that’s where I grew up,” Hicks said.

She’s always willing to promote local businesses as what they now call an “influencer.” She recently posed for a photo to show off the new Most Wanted Coffee Truck. True to her philosophy of letting things happen naturally and going with the flow, Hicks says she doesn’t necessarily look to a particular actress or model as her guiding light and always tries to follow her own path, wherever that may lead.

“A few years ago, all of my goals were focused on modeling, and now I just watch everything happen and take as much direction and advice as I can from everyone around me. And I think that’s really helped me,” she said. “I think if I was so picky and said, ‘Oh, you have to be this and that,’ I would probably limit some of my opportunities. I just want to take every opportunity I get and use it and develop my own personality.”

As her father, David Hicks, director of community engagement for Marshall County YSS, told her, much of what happens in her profession is out of her control, so it’s best for Jillian to embrace the mantra that, ironically, is also the name of the aforementioned song she appeared in the music video for – it is what it is.

“I’m so happy to be a part of it and say, ‘It really is what it is.’ I can’t control anything,” she said.

And although her mother Alyson has warned Jillian not to try too hard and burn out, she enjoys acting and modeling so much that she hardly considers it work. Her father, for one, is impressed by how much of herself she has put into these self-proclaimed “hobbies.”

“Once she’s committed to a project, I don’t think anyone can beat her – she comes in early, stays late and does what you ask of her with a positive attitude because she’s fully committed to it. That’s how she’s built relationships,” said David Hicks. “I think that’s really the key to her success. It’s her willingness and commitment to work, to learn, to follow directions, to take criticism and to be an active member of the team. We’re very proud of her and her willingness to say, ‘I’m going to try and learn as I go.'”

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

[email protected].