Meet ‘America’s Sweethearts’ in the New Netflix Documentary Series

The Dallas Cowboys cheerleading squad – with those million-dollar smiles, big hair, high kicks and iconic blue and white uniforms – is made up of members who look like models and act like athletes.

This is how the young women are described at the start of the new Netflix docuseries America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. But Greg Whiteley, who directed the seven-episode series which begins June 20, also strives to showcase the individuality inherent in the entire team, culminating in a moving sequence at the end of the series with close-ups of the cheerleaders removing their makeup. and false eyelashes to then look directly into the camera.

“The women are impressive when you see them all in a kicking line — they’re lined up and they’re beautiful and athletic and strong,” said Whiteley, who also directed the Netflix docuseries. Last chance U And Acclamation, said in an interview with the streamer. “They seem impenetrable. I think it’s even more impressive when you realize there’s a living, breathing human being underneath that facade.

“Along the way, as a handful of these girls really started opening up to us about their lives, I found them to be even more impressive as an organization and as a group. I think it became a visual metaphor for the journey we took with them.

His Netflix series thus aims to penetrate the team’s pretty, bubbly, all-American veneer and highlight the exhausting work and hustle behind the smiles. America’s Sweethearts follows the team – led by longtime director Kelli Finglass – through the 2023-24 NFL season, with many women opening the doors of their homes to reveal personal stories the public doesn’t see .

The team’s legacy extends from auditions and training camps throughout the NFL season, during which the women performed in front of more than 90,000 fans at every home game of the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Among other things, viewers will also get an idea from the Netflix series about how the squad squad truly revolutionized NFL cheerleading by setting a new standard for glamour, style and athleticism (for To learn more about the team’s history, check out Texas Monthly’s excellent podcast, America’s Girls).

Most people may not be aware of the fact that not only is it incredibly difficult to make the team; even veterans have to start again every year.

“You could say they’re the number one group of professional cheerleaders in the world, and I don’t even know who number two is,” Whiteley told Netflix. “But that doesn’t necessarily make for a great story.” Often when you were in their home it was an invitation to see what their life was really like. It never occurred to me that they had to have other jobs to pay their bills.

“They’re all in a certain age category where they start asking some of life’s biggest questions. Who am I? What am I going to do with my life? Above all, what am I going to do now that I’m done being DCC is the story of Caroline Sundvold. She was the face of the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. Now she’s retired, and what’s next?