Jurnee Smollett Talks Overcoming ‘Challenges’ as a Child Star in ‘Adult Environment’

Jurnee Smollett has been working in Hollywood for more than 30 years, but that doesn’t mean it’s been an easy road. 

The Order star, 38, revealed to Us Weekly exclusively that she “definitely dealt with a lot of different circumstances on set” as a child actor. Smollett, who first found fame appearing in projects like Full House and Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper, credits her mother, Janet, for helping her navigate the industry as she was growing up.

“When you put a child in an adult environment, there’s going to be challenges,” Smollett said at the premiere of Number One on the Call Sheet in Los Angeles earlier this month. “I got to give credit to my mother, Janet. If you ever meet her, you’ll be like, ‘Oh, I get it.’ She’s such a fierce woman and always raised us to believe that it’s actually not about you. You’re being used as a vessel to tell a story.”

Smollett is one of six siblings, all of whom worked as actors in Hollywood. Janet taught her children to not only keep themselves safe, but also safeguard their talents as well, according to Smollett.

“If anyone tries to stop you in your path, how dare them? It’s actually not even simply you protecting yourself, it’s you protecting the gift,” Smollett shared. “For folks like me, sometimes I’m like, it’s easier for me to protect other people than myself. It’s easier if I remember that, ‘Oh, I’m being used as a vessel. It’s not about me.’ I’m protecting the gift.”

Smollett went on to share that Janet raised her and her siblings “with this idea that you have to study the greats.” 

“I was able to do it up close and personal,” the actress added, listing Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, and Angela Bassett among those who helped her find her voice in Hollywood. 

“I grew up in a village and was very fortunate early on to work with so many of our greatest actors of all time,” Smollett said. “Samuel Jackson, I worked with when I was 10 years old in Eve’s Bayou. Denzel Washington directed me when I was 19 in The Great Debaters. Alfre Woodard and Angela Bassett have been like my aunts in my village. I’m not bragging; I’m truly trying to get folks to understand that I owe them everything.” 

Smollett, Washington, Bassett, Woodard and more stars are featured in Apple TV+’s Number One on the Call Sheet, a two-part documentary film that explores the experiences of Black actors in Hollywood. Directed by Reginald Hudlin and Shola Lynch, the film premieres globally on Friday, March 28, on Apple TV+.