Who is Jackie Burkhart in That '70s Show?

Show

That '70s Show

Played by

Mila Kunis

First episode

“That '70s Pilot”Season 1, Episode 1, aired August 23, 1998

Role

Main cast

Network

FOX

Occupation

Spoiled rich girl, later TV talk show assistant

Show run

1998 to 2006

Also known as

Jacqueline Burkhart, Jacqueline Beulah Burkhart

Jackie Burkhart is the basement gang's pampered princess, a rich girl with strong opinions about clothes, boys, and everyone else's flaws. Played by Mila Kunis, she grows from comic brat into one of the show's most surprising and sympathetic characters.

On That '70s Show, Jackie Burkhart's story runs through Michael Kelso (Ex-boyfriend), Steven Hyde (Ex-boyfriend), Fez (Boyfriend), Donna Pinciotti (Best Friend), Kitty Forman (Friend's Mother), and Eric Forman (Friend).

Who is Jackie Burkhart?

Jackie is the only daughter of a wealthy Point Place family. Her father, Jack, is a local councilman, and her mother, Pam, is rarely around. When the show begins she is dating Michael Kelso and tagging along with his friends, who barely tolerate her.

Her comfortable life collapses in season five, when her father is arrested for bribery and embezzlement and her mother runs off to Mexico. With nowhere else to go, Jackie ends up sleeping in the Formans' basement before moving in with Donna and Bob, and having to fend for herself changes her.

Personality and comedy

Jackie is vain, bossy, and sure she is the most important person in any room, and she says exactly what she thinks of everyone else's hair, clothes, and life choices. Mila Kunis plays her shrill self-confidence with perfect timing, which makes even her cruelest lines funny rather than mean.

As the seasons go on, the writers peel back the layers. Underneath the bossiness is a lonely kid who wants to be loved, and her unlikely friendship with Donna becomes one of the show's sweetest relationships. By the end she is still Jackie, but a kinder, more grounded version.

Key storylines

Jackie's love life is the show's longest-running soap opera. She dates Kelso on and off for the first four seasons, dumping him when she catches him kissing Eric's sister, Laurie. At the end of season two she starts to fall for Hyde, who takes the blame when she is caught with marijuana, and while Kelso is away in California at the start of season five, she and Hyde begin a relationship that lasts about three seasons.

That romance ends at the close of season seven, when Hyde finds her with Kelso in a Chicago motel and assumes the worst. In the final season, while she chases a job with a local TV talk show host, she realizes that Fez, who has adored her since season one, is the person she really wants. The series ends with the two of them together on New Year's Eve 1979.

Behind the scenes and legacy

Mila Kunis was only 14 when she auditioned, even though actors were supposed to be at least 18. She told the casting directors she would be 18 without saying when, and the producers kept her even after they figured it out. She played Jackie for all eight seasons, and the role helped launch a career that includes Family Guy, where she voices Meg Griffin, and films such as Black Swan.

Kunis returned for the premiere of That '90s Show in 2023, which reveals that Jackie and Kelso reunited after the original series and are raising a son named Jay.

Jackie Burkhart: frequently asked questions

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