Jurnee Smollett

Personal context

Summary

Jurnee Smollett is an actor and producer whose work includes Eve’s Bayou, Friday Night Lights, Underground, Lovecraft Country, and Birds of Prey. Her roles and producing choices have often centered black history, women’s experiences, and characters confronting racism and unequal power; she has said she wants Black boyhood and Black joy represented on screen. Outside her screen work, she has volunteered for HIV/AIDS causes since childhood, served as a founding board member of Time’s Up, participated in Black Lives Matter in Los Angeles, and spoken at the 2018 Women’s March. She has also publicly advocated for women of color and pay equity in Hollywood and serves on the board of Women in Film.