Jussie Smollett

He has been an activist since his childhood. When he was ten, one of the set’s member passed away owing to HIV complications. As a little boy he was devastated on learning about the incident and henceforth took initiative to spread awareness about HIV, racism and homophobia.

At the age of sixteen, he began volunteering at the ‘Black AIDS Institute’ under the mentorship of Phill Wilson. He also worked closely with the ‘New South Africa’ organisation and its artists such as Samuel L. Jackson, Carlos Santana and LaToya Jackson for a similar cause.

In an interview on ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’, Jussie told Ellen that he’s “a gay man” and that this wasn’t coming out of the closet for him as he had never hidden it and that he is proud of his sexual preference.

Jussie Langston Mikha Smollett was born to Janet and Joel on 21st June, 1983 at Santa Rosa (Soma County) in California. His father is Ashkenazi Jewish and his mother is Afro-American.

He grew up along with his brothers – Jake, Jojo and Jocqui, and his sisters Jazz and Jurnee, who also grew up to be artists and actors.

From the age of five, Jussie was a known face on TV; he was often seen in numerous network commercials in NYC until he landed his first role in the Hollywood movie ‘The Mighty Ducks’.

He was signed for the role of Terry Hall in the 1992 Stephen Herek’s American sports-comedy film ‘The Mighty Ducks’ under the banner of Walt Disney Pictures. In the film he worked with Emilio Estevez and Joshua Jackson.

Following his appearance in the film he was soon seen in the 1993 TV miniseries ‘Queen’ as Simon the son of the lead character alongside Halle Berry. The show was based on the Alex Haley’s novel ‘Queen: The Story of an American Family’.

In 1994, he starred along with his siblings on ABC’s sitcom ‘On Our Own’. In the show Jussie and his siblings play orphans and their elder brother, played by Ralph Harris takes the responsibility of bringing up his younger siblings.

He also landed the role of Adam in the 1994 American comedy film ‘North’ based on Alan Zweibel's novel. The film starred Elijah Wood and was also Scarlett Johansson’s debut film.

While taking a break from the industry, Jussie featured in a short film ‘Pitch This’ as Mike. However, he came back into the industry with his guest appearance in ‘The Mindy Project’ as Barry Stassen in the episode ‘Josh and Mindy’s Christmas Party’ in 2012.

In 2012, he took on the lead role of Magnus, in the LGBT comedy drama film ‘The Skinny’, alongside Blake Young-Fountain who plays the main role of Sebastian in the movie.

During his career break, he focused on his vocal skills and ended up releasing his debut EP ‘Poisoned Hearts Club’ comprising of seven songs in 2012.

2014 was a busy year for him; he featured in two Hollywood movies - as Tariq in ‘Born to Race: Fast Track’ and as Nico Demper in the Allison Burnett film ‘Ask Me Anything’ alongside Britt Robertson, Justin Long and Christian Slater. He also guest starred in the ‘Ashes’ episode of the soap opera ‘Revenge’.

Jussie’s best performance is undoubtedly his role as ‘Jamal Lyon’ in Fox’s musical TV series ‘Empire’. The show is based on a hip-hop music company called ‘Empire Entertainment’, and the rifts between the families of the founders to control the company.