Jurnee Smollett

“In the summer of 2020, my friend Chris Messina invited me to attend a virtual workshop conducted by Terry. While I had long heard great things about Terry from friends and colleagues like Jonathan Majors and Sam Rockwell, I was a bit skeptical about attending a workshop vis Zoom. Within the first 10 minutes, my skepticism was immediately replaced with an intuition that what I was about to experience was sacred. I witnessed first hand the depth of Terry’s gift. In this meeting of artist and text, Terry was the midwife, empowering the arts to breathe life full of truth and specificity into the work. Terry was a masterful teacher, one who simultaneously inspires and challenges his students. He encourages us to connect to the underpinnings of the piece, with a level of specificity and imagination which in turn ignites meaning for the artist; thus, avoiding the generic or expected choices. Terry’s understanding of the history of craft within stage and screen is unmatched. Any actor that has the chance to study with Terry will greatly benefit from it. I know I have. Terry gives the actor the tools to have full access to one’s emotional life. His goal is simple: try to make it better.”

Jurnee Smollett is an award-winning actress and activist of rare talent and conviction. In the fall of 2020, she starred in J.J. Abrams, Jordan Peele and Misha Green’s critically acclaimed drama for HBO, “Lovecraft Country.” Smollett’s performance was lauded by industry insiders and critics alike. Since the show’s release, Smollett has earned a Critics Choice Super Award for “Best Actress in a Horror Series” and was nominated for a Critics Choice Award and NAACP Image Award for “Best Actress in a Drama.”

Additionally, in 2020, Jurnee played Black Canary in Warner Bros DC Universe’s “Birds Of Prey.” She wrapped production on the Netflix original film, “Escape From Spiderhead” alongside Chris Hemsworth and Miles Teller in early 2021.

Jurnee made her breakthrough performance at the age of 11, starring in “Eve’s Bayou” opposite Samuel L. Jackson for which she won the Broadcast Film Critics Award for Best Youth Performance and was cited by Interview Magazine as one of the five Hollywood stars to watch in the new millennium. Smollett starred in “The Great Debaters” with Forest Whitaker and Denzel Washington, who also directed the drama. In addition to receiving rave reviews, the film was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Picture and Jurnee won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture. She also starred in Tyler Perry’s film “Temptation” which was Perry’s biggest grossing box-office hit outside of his “Madea” brand. Other film credits include the independent feature, “One Last Thing” alongside Wendell Pierce, “Hands Of Stone” opposite Robert DeNiro and Edgar Ramirez, “Roll Bounce”, “Gridiron Gang”, and “Beautiful Joe.”