The names Jussie and Jurnee Smollett are surely familiar to anyone who’s been up to date with the entertainment industry in the last decade. Despite the controversies surrounding the Smollett siblings, there are no doubts about their creative talents and prominence.
Nonetheless, every artist has a story to tell which goes beyond the entertainment industry, and the Jussie and Jurnee are no exception, as their family and upbringing are some of the subjects their fans are also interested in, especially when it comes to their father Joel Smollett.
So who was Joel, and what role did he play in his children’s success? How was the Smolletts’ childhood and how do they remember their father? Keep reading to learn more!
Who Was Joel Smollet?
Joel Smollett, Sr. was born on 8 October 1956 in the USA. He was Jewish of Russian and Polish descent, but not many details are known about Joel’s early life, including education and childhood.
Joel worked as a journeyman cable splicer for energy and telephone companies in New York State. In a 2016 interview with Out magazine, Jussie Smollett described his father as ‘over-protective’ and also revealed Joel would ‘kill’ if he was ‘called white’.
Joel was married to Janet, with whom he welcomed six children: Jussie, Jurnee, Jojo, Jocqui, Jake, and Jazz. According to Jussie, Joel was ‘far from perfect’, and wasn’t present in his early years as much as he ‘had liked’, but also described him as a man open to change to ‘become a better man’. Despite Joel’s early absence in his children’s lives, he spent the last years of his life with his family, as Jussie affirmed.
Joel and Janet divorced around 1997, but further details about his life are unrevealed. Unfortunately, Joel died on 7 January 2015 at 59 years old. Although his children didn’t reveal much about Joel’s health situation before passing, their heartful posts in his honor were tagged as #cancersucks.
Famous Children
Jussie Smollett
Jussie Smollett was born on 21 June 1982 in Santa Rosa, California US. He’s the third oldest child of Joel and Janet Smollett, with Jojo and Jazz as his oldest siblings, followed by Jurnee, Jake, and Jocqui.
The Smollett family moved out of Los Angeles to New York City, where Jussie spent his early childhood as a child model and actor before the family returned to California. These moves were meant to push the children’s careers forward, allowing Jussie to land small roles in the early 1990s movies “Mo’ Better Blues” and “Mighty Ducks”.
Jussie’s TV debut happened in the 1994 series “On Our Own”, starring him and all of his siblings. The series lasted one year on air and was followed by a prolonged hiatus on Jussie’s side as he pursued an education. The 2000s saw Jussie working alongside non-profit organizations while pursuing an independent music career on the side.
It wasn’t until 2012 that Jussie went back to working as an actor, appearing in episodes of “The Mindy Project” and “Revenge”, before getting his breakthrough role as Jamal Lyon in the awarded series “Empire”. Starting in 2019, Jussie has been involved in a hate crime hoax for which he was sentenced to 150 days in county jail and paid over $120,000 in fines.
Jurnee Smollett
Jurnee Diana Smollett was born on 1 October 1986 in New York US. Just like her siblings, Jurnee spent her early life as a child actress, getting small roles in the sitcoms “Out All Night” and “Martin” from the early 1990s. She got her first recurring roles in the series “Full House” and “Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper”, before sharing the small screen with her siblings in the series “On Our Own” and briefly appearing in “NYPD Blue”.
Although Jurnee appeared in the made-for-TV movie “Sunday In Paris” in 1991, her official big screen debut was as Phoebe in the 1996 movie “Jack” starring Robin Williams. One year later, Jurnee starred in the movie “Eve’s Bayou” as Eve Batiste, sharing the stage with the likes of Samuel L. Jackson and Debbi Morgan, a role which gained Jurnee a Critics Choice Award.
From 1998 to 1999, Jurnee starred as her eponymous character in the popular series “Cosby”, besides appearing in several films including “Beautiful Joe” and “Selma, Lord, Selma”. As an adult, Jurnee has appeared in series such as “True Blood”, “Underground” and “Lovecraft Country”, on top of getting main roles in the films “Hands Of Stone” and “Birds Of Prey”. Jurnee is a long-time HIV/AIDS awareness advocate.
Other Children
All Smollett children have been involved with the entertainment industry at some point in their lives. For starters, the oldest Jojo portrayed several small roles in the 1990s, including the movie “City of Hope” and the short film “Last Breeze Of Summer”. Also, Jojo was Chuck Jr. in the series “Roseanne”, before getting a long-time role alongside his siblings in “On Our Own” in 1994, though he has stayed away from acting since the late 1990s.
The second oldest Smollett child is Jazz, whose career as an actress only extends to her appearances as Jai Jerrico in “On Our Own” and as Lennox Jones in the 2007 short film “I Want You”. Nonetheless, Jazz is a successful designer and TV personality, hosting and producing her show “Living by Design with Jake and Jazz” alongside her brother Jake, who has also been involved with the industry since his childhood.
Jake’s debut as an actor was in “Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper” in 1992, besides appearing in “Eve’s Bayou” alongside his sister Jurnee in 1997. He also portrayed the character Noser in the 2007 TV series “The Middleman”. Both Jake and Jazz are chefs, and hosted their show “Smollett Eats”.
Last but not least there’s Jocqui, the youngest Smollett whose appearances on TV are few, with the most recent being in “Smollett Eats”. Jocqui isn’t involved with the entertainment industry and is instead a tech entrepreneur who graduated with a Math and Global Economics degree from the University of California.
Physical Appearance & Net Worth
Joel Smollett had brown hair and eyes. According to his son Jussie, Joel was 5ft 7ins (1.70m) tall.
Although some sources state Joel’s net worth at over $300,000, the lack of information about his life and other professional endeavors besides being a cable splicer makes it hard to estimate what his financial situation really was.
