If you’re a fan of Full House, you probably remember Denise, Michelle Tanner’s tiny partner in crime. Even at that young age (6), she had a big personality and an even bigger attitude. It was a small role that only lasted a few episodes, but it was the start of a very long career for Hollywood actress Jurnee Smollett.
Smollett comes from a really talented family. She grew up in a home with six siblings, where acting, singing, and performing was in her blood. Her brother Jussie once told The New York Times that the family even had a nickname for themselves. “Smoll Nation.”
By 1994, the Smollett siblings landed their own ABC sitcom, On Our Own, playing orphaned brothers and sisters raising each other. It didn’t last long either, but, again, these were steps towards something bigger.
And bigger came with Eve’s Bayou in 1997, when Smollett was just 10.
Director Kasi Lemmons cast the young actress as Eve Batiste, the observant daughter of Samuel L. Jackson’s character. Debbi Morgan, who played her aunt in the film, told The New York Times, “With a part like Eve, it had to be an exceptional child. It was something innate that Jurnee did up there on that screen. You can’t teach that.”
Smollet then appeared in The Cosby Show and later returned to the small screen with roles in Friday Night Lights, True Blood, Parenthood, and Underground.
Over the years, she shared scenes with Denzel Washington in The Great Debaters, worked alongside Forest Whitaker, and even survived a Tyler Perry film, which we won’t name here, that also featured Kim Kardashian.
Then came Black Canary in Birds of Prey. Smollett had just given birth before filming started, yet she trained multiple times a week. “I lived in a constant state of pain!” she joked to Marie Claire.
At 38, Smollett still chases variety. “Whether it was a superhero in DC Comics or Letitia-f***ing-Lewis in [Lovecraft Country], or a lawyer in The Burial, or a single mom fighting to find her daughter in Lou, I’m so fortunate that I get to step into all these different professions,” she told The Hollywood Reporter.
Not bad for the kid who once caused chaos in the Tanner household.
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