Jussie Smollett (/ˈdʒʌsisməlˈɛt/, born June 21, 1982)[1] is an American actor and singer. He began his career as a child actor in 1991 debuting in The Mighty Ducks (1992). From 2015 to 2019, Smollett portrayed musician
Jamal Lyon in the
Fox drama series Empire.
In January 2019, Smollett
staged a fake hate crime against himself in Chicago and later made false police reports regarding the incident. In December 2021, Smollett was convicted of five felony counts of disorderly conduct;[2] he was sentenced in March 2022 to 150 days in
county jail.[3] He was released 6 days later on bond while his case was on appeal.[4] On December 1, 2023, Smollett's appeal was denied by the Illinois Appellate Court in a 2–1 decision, and Smollett will be required to complete his 150-day sentence.[5] In March 2024, the
Supreme Court of Illinois announced that it would hear an appeal by Smollett into his conviction, although no date was set for a hearing.[6]
Early life
Jussie Smollett was born in
Santa Rosa, California,[7] to Joel and Janet (née Harris) Smollett. He has three brothers and two sisters:
Jake, Jocqui, Jojo,
Jurnee, and Jazz, several of whom are also actors.[8] Smollett is
biracial[9] and Jewish.[10] His mother is African-American, and his father is Jewish.[11] He has said that his father would "kill you if you called him
white". His father was absent from his life for a significant portion of his childhood.[12] The family moved to the
Elmhurst neighborhood of the New York City borough of Queens when he was two years old, then to Los Angeles when he was about seven.[7] Smollett graduated from
Paramus Catholic High School in
Paramus, New Jersey.[7][13] When he was 19, Smollett told his parents he was gay.[12]
Career
Smollett began his acting career as a child model in New York City and later worked as an
extra on the New York-shot movies Mo' Better Blues (1990) and New Jack City (1991)[7] He went on to act in the films The Mighty Ducks (1992) and
Rob Reiner's North (1994). On television, he starred alongside his five real-life siblings in the short-lived
ABC sitcom On Our Own in 1994–1995.[14] In 2012, Smollett returned to acting with the leading role in
Patrik-Ian Polk's
LGBT-themed comedy-drama The Skinny.[15] Also that year, he released an
EP titled The Poisoned Hearts Club.[8][16] He later guest-starred on The Mindy Project (2012) and Revenge (2014).[12]
In 2014, Smollett was cast as
Jamal Lyon—a gay musician struggling to gain the approval of his father
Lucious—opposite
Taraji P. Henson and
Terrence Howard in the
Fox drama series Empire.[17][18][19] His role was hailed as groundbreaking for its positive depiction of a black gay man on television.[20] Smollett reprised his role in subsequent seasons[21] and directed an episode of the fourth season in 2017.[22] Smollett's character was removed from the final two episodes of season five because of the assault controversy.[23][24]
In February 2015, Smollett confirmed that he had signed a recording contract with
Columbia Records and would be releasing an album in the future.[25] Smollett co-wrote the songs "I Wanna Love You" and "You're So Beautiful" on the Original Soundtrack from Season 1 of Empire album, which was released in March 2015.[26]
In June 2015, it was announced that Smollett would guest-star alongside his younger sister
Jurnee in Underground, which aired in 2016.[27] Smollett released his debut album, Sum of My Music, in March 2018.[28]Sum of My Music is an
R&B album that features elements of
electronic music and
hip hop. Smollett self-released it through his own label, Music of Sound.[29]
On April 30, 2019,
Fox Entertainment announced that though Smollett's contract had been extended for the sixth season of Empire, there were no plans for his character to appear during it.[23][30]
Smollett directed B-Boy Blues, a movie based on the 1994 black gay novel by
James Earl Hardy. The movie was released in November 2021.[31]
On January 29, 2019, Smollett told police that he was physically attacked outside his apartment building along with the use of
racial and
homophobic slurs.[32][33][34][35] Smollett was treated at
Northwestern Memorial Hospital and was released "in good condition" later that morning.[32][36][37][38][39] A subsequent police investigation found that Smollett paid two brothers who were work acquaintances of his to stage the assault.[40][41]
On February 20, 2019, Smollett was charged by a
grand jury with a class 4
felony for
filing a false police report.[42][43][44][45][46] On March 26, 2019, all charges filed against Smollett were dropped.[47][48] First Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Magats said the office reached a deal with Smollett's defense team in which prosecutors dropped the charges upon Smollett performing 16 hours of
community service[49][50][51] and forfeiting his $10,000
bond.[52][53][54] On April 12, 2019, the city of Chicago filed a lawsuit in the
Circuit Court of Cook County against Smollett for the costs, totaling $130,105.15, of overtime authorities expended investigating the hoax.[55][56][57][58] In November 2019, Smollett filed a
countersuit against the city of Chicago alleging he was the victim of "mass public ridicule and harm" and arguing he should not be made to reimburse the city for the cost of the investigation.[59]
After the charges were dropped, allegations of favoritism and leniency were made against the prosecutor,
Kim Foxx. In June 2019, Foxx asked the state to conduct an independent inquiry by a special investigator.[60] On February 11, 2020, after further investigation by a special prosecutor was completed, Smollett was indicted again by a
Cook Countygrand jury on six counts of felony disorderly conduct about making four false police reports.[61][57] On June 12, 2020, a judge rejected Smollett's claim that his February charge violated the principle of
double jeopardy.[62] His trial began in November 2021, and on December 9 Smollett was found guilty of five of the six counts.[63]
On March 10, 2022, he was sentenced to serve 150 days in county jail and two and a half years on probation. Smollett was also ordered to make restitution to the city of Chicago of just over $120,000 and fined $25,000.[3][64] His lawyers filed a notice of appeal the following day.[65] On March 16, 2022, an Illinois appeals court ordered that Smollett be released from jail, upon his posting of a $150,000
personal recognizance bond, pending the outcome of the appeal of his conviction.[4][66][67] On March 1, 2023, Smollett's attorney filed an appeal of his 150-day sentence related to the felony disorderly conduct conviction in his hate crime hoax.[68][69] The court, on December 1, 2023, upheld the conviction.[70]
Personal life
Smollett publicly
came out as gay during a televised interview with
Ellen DeGeneres in March 2015.[71][72][12] When Smollett's gay character from Empire engaged in a tryst with a female character, Smollett defended the plot development by stating that he and Empire's co-creator
Lee Daniels were trying to create a conversation about
sexual fluidity in the gay community. While Daniels and Smollett are gay, Daniels has stated that they occasionally want to have sex with women.[73]
In 2007, Smollett
pleaded no contest to three
misdemeanor counts providing
false information to law enforcement resulting from a
DUI stop in which he gave police a false name pretending to be his brother.[74][75] Smollett also pleaded no contest to driving with a blood alcohol level over the legal limit and driving without a valid
driver's license and was sentenced to a fine and three years of probation.[74][76]
^"Good Enough" did not enter the Billboard
Hot 100 chart, but peaked at number 6 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart.[97]
^"No Apologies" did not enter the Billboard
Hot 100 chart, but peaked at number 23 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart.[97]
^"I Wanna Love You" did not enter the Billboard
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, but peaked at number 7 on the Bubbling Under Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.[99]
^"Money For Nothing" did not enter the Billboard
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, but peaked at number 9 on the Bubbling Under Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.[99]
^"Nothing To Lose" did not enter the Billboard
Hot 100 chart, but peaked at number 21 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart.[97]
^"Powerful" did not enter the Billboard
Hot 100 chart, but peaked at number 12 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart.[97]
^"Chasing the Sky" did not enter the Billboard
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, but peaked at number 2 on the Bubbling Under Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.[99]
^"Good People" did not enter the Billboard
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, but peaked at number 3 on the Bubbling Under Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.[99]