Jurnee Smollett (formerly credited as Jurnee Smollett-Bell; born Jurnee Diana Smollett on October 1, 1986 in New York City, New York) is an American actress.
Formerly a child star who recurred as Denise on the ABC TGiF sitcom Full House, Smollett-Bell portrayed the titular character of 1997's Eve's Bayou, which earned her critical acclaim while still at a young age.
She continued acting into adulthood —primarily in television— with some of her most notable credits including NBC's Friday Night Lights, HBO's True Blood, and WGN America's Underground.
In 2018, Smollett-Bell was cast as the classic DC Comics character Black Canary for the 2020 film Birds of Prey, based on the comic book series of the same name. There were plans for her to reprise the role in a spinoff solo movie, but the project was cancelled.
She is younger sister to actor/singer Jussie Smollett.
She has one son with musician Josiah Bell, to whom she'd been married from 2010 to 2020.
Selected filmography:
- Full House (1992 — 1994) as Denise Frazer
- On Our Own (1994 — 1995) as Jordee Jericho
- Hangin' with Mr. Cooper (1992) as Denise Frazer
- Eve's Bayou (1997) as Eve Batiste
- Roll Bounce (2005) as Tori Turner
- Gridiron Gang (2006) as Danyelle Rollins
- Grey's Anatomy (2008) as Beth
- Friday Night Lights (2009 — 2011) as Jess Merriweather
- True Blood (2013 — 2014) as Nicole Wright
- Parenthood (2013) as Heather Hall
- Hands of Stone (2016) as Juanita Leonard
- Underground (2016 — 2017) as Rosalee
- Sofia the First (2017-2018) as Chrysta
- DC Extended Universe as Dinah Laurel Lance / Black Canary
- Birds of Prey (2020)
- The Twilight Zone (2020) as Jasmine (Episode "Ovation")
- Lovecraft Country (2020) as Letitia "Leti" Lewis
- Spiderhead (2022): Lizzy
- Lou (2022): Hannah
