Jackie Cruz is experiencing motherhood in Midnight in the Switchgrass. This thriller tells the story of an FBI agent and Florida State officer investigating a string of unsolved murder cases. Starred by Megan Fox, Bruce Willis, and Emile Hirsch, the film is based on the true story of Texas’ most dangerous serial killer and a deadly sex-trafficking ring.

Cruz plays Suzanna, a stay-home mom living in Florida, wife to a police officer that spends her days trying to keep her family together while encouraging her husband to help sex-trafficking victims to stay alive.

©Lionsgate / Midnight in the Switchgrass

Compared to her previous role as Marisol “Flaca” Gonzales on the Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black, the Dominican–American actress and singer can be seen as a more mature character.

During an interview with HOLA! USA, Cruz revealed that she audition for another role in Midnight in the Switchgrass but ended up becoming Suzanna. “I went to high school with Emile Hirsch, and it was just an honor to just work elbow to elbow with him, and, we only got to speak for 15 minutes before our very dramatic scene,” the actress told us. “It was really beautiful because this character is strong. She’s not just like a housewife. No, she’s very involved in her family, very involved in her husband. She listens to him; she wants to know what’s going on. And she’s very humble. She wants to keep him on the ground. She wants to make sure that he stays humble and that he doesn’t get disillusioned by the world because of all the violence that he sees every day.”

According to Cruz been part of the project has been a blessing in her acting career. “I got really excited when I got this role. It was random. And I‘m so blessed that I get to be part of such a wonderful cast, and a story that usually it’s not really told through a woman’s eyes,” she continued. “I’m just so lucky to be playing strong women. I want to continue that in my career.”

Cruz’s character is indeed very involved in what her husband is doing, but in real life, she also wants people to start talking more about the sad reality of sex and human trafficking. “I grew up knowing this. In the Dominican Republic, there are little girls, 12-year-old kids. This is happening in Latin America,” she highlights. “So it‘s something that I already wanted to talk about, so I was really blessed that I got to be a part of this movie because these are very tough topics.”

“I was lucky enough not to be in that world but me, and I was blessed that these things didn‘t happen to me, but it is happening in the world, and I think that this movie is just going to kind of wake up some people and get them,” she added.

After this role, Jackie already knows what’s next in her career. “I’m creating my own show. I’m auditioning like crazy. There are some beautiful roles out there, but no story told by a Latina from a Latina, so that’s what I’m creating myself,” she revealed. “I literally just got my final written pilot. It’s going to be good,” Cruz said, adding that “I’m working on my music, of course, never stops.”

Directed by Randall Emmett, the thriller opens in theaters in July 2021. Watch the trailer below