COVER STORY
The Multifaceted Jurnee Smollett
From conjuring her inner wild woman to the power of natural diamonds, the Lou actress tells it like it is.
Directed & Photographed by: Mark Lim | Styled by: Alexandra Mandelkorn
Words by: Christine Whitney
The first time I wore natural diamonds was to the New York Premiere of The Great Debaters with Denzel Washington,â actress Jurnee Smollett remembers. Itâs a hot fall day in one of Los Angelesâ cozy canyons, and Smollett, casually polished in jeans and thick-soled boots, is gamely answering a series of questions about notable diamond moments in her life.
âI was about 20 or 21 and Cartier loaned me all these diamondsâI was just in awe. We grew up pretty poor, and anything like that seemed so out of our reach, or reserved for women like Diana Ross and Elizabeth Taylor. Being able to see the artistry and unique energy of diamonds in person was such a special experience.â
While sheâs one of the most grounded actors one could hope to meet, Smollett does love a good jewelry moment. Sheâs recently added a number of piercings (now totaling seven) to one of her ears, and plans to go back ASAP to complete the other one. âI’m allergic to fake jewelry, random fact,â she offers when asked about her preferred personal amulets. âIt literally makes my ears swell.â
![jurnee smollett](https://www.naturaldiamonds.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/18980-C3-008-copy.jpg?w=1200)
NECKLACES: (FROM TOP TO BOTTOM) BACHENDORFS, CARTIER RINGS: CARTIER (LEFT POINTER AND RING), MELISSA KAYE (RIGHT MIDDLE) TOP AND SKIRT: GUCCI
For her Only Natural Diamonds cover story, Smollett got to match her creative spirit with her love of fine jewelry, channeling different characters through changes of hair, wardrobe, and of course, natural diamonds. âI think as I grow older, I realize that it’s okay to embrace all the different complex sides of my womanhood,â Smollett says of the inspiration for the shoot. âOne day I want to show up in combat boots and jeans and a T-shirt,â referencing her uniform for this interview, âand that feels authentic to me in this mood and space. Fashion really is about expressing ourselves in that present time. All this other stuff that we make it about is performative and not actually creativity,â she concludes.
The shoot, however, brought out the kind of collaborative self-expression she loves. âIt was just one big playground,â she says of the experience. âI rarely have fun at photo shoots because honestly it’s a bit counter to my relationship with the cameraâto actually look into the cameraâI’m not a model. I’m an actress, I tell stories. So it’s just a different muscle that can be awkward.â
Asked if she had a favorite piece, look, or moment from the shoot, she demurs. âIâm a Libra, I canât pick a favorite,â before referencing her top three, including an a pear-shaped diamond that âlooks like something Elizabeth Taylor would wear;â natural diamond earring fashioned into hairpieces courtesy of hairstylist Nikki Nelms âI felt like a queen who didnât need a crown;â and an architectural Louis Vuitton look with a slicked-back bun with Melissa Kaye and Louis Vuitton jewels.
![jurnee smollett](https://www.naturaldiamonds.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/18980-C2-010-copy.jpg?w=1200)
![jurnee smollett](https://www.naturaldiamonds.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/18980-C3-001-copy-1.jpg?w=1200)
âAfter having played so much with divine feminine energy, it was nice to play with a little bit more of a divine masculine, because we have it both in us. I need the balance. I don’t subscribe to this idea that we’re all one or the other,â Smollett says. âOftentimes when I am getting into a character, it is about exploring the different colors, and the shapes, and the energies. As a society, we love to put names and labels on it, because we need to understand it. And that has its value, because folks need to feel seen. But when you’re talking about your instrument, it’s just energy flowing through you.â
Smollettâs own energy is warm and infectious, and has, in concert with her determination and mettle, secured her a robust complement of roles throughout her decades-long career. âTypically, if there is a typecasting of me, it’s the wild woman,â she says, referencing an archetype from the beloved Clarissa Pinkola EstĂ©s book, Women Who Run with the Wolves. âI think that’s just the blood memory. One of my teachers talks a lot about thatâthese characters don’t come to you by accident.â
![jurnee smollett](https://www.naturaldiamonds.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/18980-A2-006-copy.jpg?w=1200)
![jurnee smollett](https://www.naturaldiamonds.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/18980-A2-001-2-copy.jpg?w=1200)
Her latest character is the protagonist of the Netflix thriller Lou, directed by Anna Foerster, which debuted on Netflix September 23rd. Smollett plays Hannah, a domestic violence survivor who is forced to embark on a heroâs journey when her daughter is kidnapped. Allison Janney co-stars as the reclusive neighbor who joins Hannah on her odyssey. âIt’s a beautiful story that’s simply about two very different women from very different backgrounds,â Smollett says. âWe are forced to work together and trek through the woods in the middle of a storm. We’re battling conditions, demons from our past, and each other while trying to rescue [my daughter] from my ex-husband.â The project also marks Smollettâs debut in the role of producer, with more production credits in the works.
Shot in the Vancouver wilderness, Lou offered the opportunity for Smollett to lean into her characterâs inner wild womanâand to have a great time in the process. âI got to play in the woods for months with Allison Janney,â she says. â[Sheâs] an icon in her own right and one of the most generous actors Iâve ever worked with. We really had to develop a partnership because it was a tough shoot, 100% outdoors.â
Rugged conditions or none, Smollett is not one to be deterred by the elements. âIt was just so beautiful,â she says of the landscape. âI’m channeling the inner mama bear spirit, and had an encounter in one of our last days of shooting with a mama bearâher cubs were on the beach and she was fishing. It was really quite moving. I tend to dive into a spiritual aspect of the work and the character. And that was a little nod from nature, âyou’re on the right path.ââ
![jurnee smollett](https://www.naturaldiamonds.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/18980-F1-004-2-copy.jpg?w=1200)
EARRINGS: MELISSA KAYE RING: TIFFANY & Co., JACKET AND SHIRT: LOUIS VUITTON Below RINGS:LOUIS VUITTON (RIGHT POINTER), MELISSA KAYE, (RIGHT MIDDLE) BRACELET: LOUIS VUITTON TIE AND TROUSERS: LOUIS VUITTON
Smollett has been acting since she was a kid, having featured opposite Samuel L. Jackson in Eveâs Bayou and as a recurring character on â90s sitcoms like Full House and Hanginâ with Mr. Cooper. In fact, her first diamond encounter came courtesy of Kasi Lemmons, who directed her in Eveâs Bayou. âI was 10,â Smollett remembers. It was a pearl necklace with a heart and a tiny little diamond in the middle of the heart. And she inscribed the back of it, âTo Jurnee. Love Kasi.â” Receiving her first piece of real jewelry was a thrill, but it was the gesture and thought behind it that really moved her.
In her early 20s, she won an NAACP Award for her role in Denzel Washingtonâs celebrated The Great Debaters. Sheâs gone on to star in myriad movies and series, including WGNâs Underground, Netflixâs Spiderhead, and HBOâs Lovecraft Country, the latter of which secured her an Emmy nomination. In one of her many upcoming projects, The Burial, Smollett plays a litigator facing off against Jamie Foxx in the courtroom.
âEven within the suitâŠshe has the spirit of the wild woman,â Smollett says of her character, âtrying to break free from societal standards. If thatâs the typecast, Iâm ok with it.â Asked about her dream role, she reveals, âIâm actually currently attached to doing it. I canât talk about it yet, but itâs truly a âpinch meâ momentâthe role Iâve wanted to play my entire adulthood.â
![jurnee smollett](https://www.naturaldiamonds.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/18980-F1-007-copy.jpg?w=1200)
“After having played
so much with divine
feminine energy, it
was nice to play with
a little bit more of
a divine masculine,
because we have it
both in us.”
Smollett is stunning to watch as an actress, but sheâs also disarmingly generous and candid offscreen, a rare find amidst the often-vapid gloss of Hollywood. Filmography aside, sheâs the kind of person you would want at your dinner table. Sheâs polished and smart as hell, but itâs her old-soul depth that makes her truly magnetic.
âMy love languages are for sure quality time and acts of kindness,â Smollett says, when itâs suggested that she is a gifted gifter. Sheâs just responded to a line of questioning about memorable diamond purchases, revealing that the most notable natural diamonds she ever bought were actually for her motherâa set of earrings bearing her grandchildrenâs initials. As with most things Smollett, itâs about the thought. âMy brother Jake will not leave my house without making sure he takes my trash out. That’s the family that I come from. I don’t ask him to do it, I live down so many stairs.â
![jurnee smollett](https://www.naturaldiamonds.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/18980-B4-002-copy.jpg?w=1200)
Necklace, Rings and Dress: Chanel
Indeed, sheâs one of six siblings, and her mother, a full-time mom and an activist who worked with Angela Davis, set the bar high. âSheâs iconic,â Smollett says of her mother. âShe raised me watching classic movies. She had me reading Katharine Hepburn’s autobiography when I was thirteen. That’s probably why I know I need to produce now, because Katharine Hepburn did it.â Hollywood glamor aside, Smollettâs mom taught her about grit, one of the proverbial gems she hopes to pass down to her five-year-old-son, Hunter.
â[My mom] had a tough upbringing as a Black woman in the South growing up in the ’60s, ’70s. But she’s so resilient and did instill that in usâyou get kicked down eight times, you get back up nine. I don’t think I would’ve survived in this industry without that.â
![jurnee smollett](https://www.naturaldiamonds.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/18980-B2-005-copy.jpg?w=1200)
![jurnee smollett](https://www.naturaldiamonds.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/18980-B3-011-copy.jpg?w=1200)
Typically, if there is
a typecasting of me,
itâs the wild woman.
![jurnee smollett](https://www.naturaldiamonds.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/18980-E3-002-2-copy.jpg?w=1200)
EARRINGS: MATEO X DE BEERS NECKLACE: VAN CLEEF & ARPELS RINGS: DORIAN WEBB X GEMIST (LEFT MIDDLE), VAN CLEEF & ARPELS (LEFT RING), MELISSA KAYE (RIGHT POINTER) BRACELET: LOUIS VUITTON HAT: SARAH SOKOL MILLINERY DRESS: VINTAGE VERSACE FROM TAB VINTAGE BELT: GUCCI BELOW SHOES: HARDOT
Smollett is a single working mom, and itâs clear that for all her A-list roles, her most important one is always that of Hunterâs mom. âThe mama bear in me is very protective over his curiosity, his imagination, his questioning, that sense of exploration that kids haveâŠKids are some of the greatest artists.â Itâs a role sheâs determined to embody on her own terms. âI didn’t want motherhood to feel like a death,â she says when asked about balancing parenting and her profession. âUnfortunately, we haven’t evolved enough in society to have space for women who want to pursue what they love without neglecting those they love,â she explains. Smollett is forging a third pathâpursuing her passion while bringing her son along wherever the work takes her.
![](https://www.naturaldiamonds.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/18980-E1-003-copy.jpg?w=1200)
âI THINK AS I GROW
OLDER, I REALIZE THAT IT’S
OKAY TO JUST EMBRACE
ALL THE DIFFERENT
COMPLEX SIDES OF MY
WOMANHOOD.”
She reflects on the dialectics of the matriarchs in her lineage: âMy grandmother was a single mom, worked her entire life, raised four children in the South. And I think my mom reversed that. She wanted to be more present than her mother was able to be, but I’m trying to find a blend.â
Itâs a theme the team discussed often during the making of Lou. Says Smollett, âThere’s so much judgment that we place on ourselves and so much judgment that society places on mothers. How do you find space to just go, âI’m doing the best I can. And that is enough.ââ Which brings us once again to the love languages, time and kindness. âI think back to my mother’s rearing of all of us and cherish how present she was, along with her gifts of selflessness and generosity,â Smollett says.
![](https://www.naturaldiamonds.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/18980-D1-010-copy.jpg?w=1200)
Earrings: Van Cleef & Arpels Bracelets and Necklace: Tiffany & Co. Rings: Melissa Kaye(Left Pointer), Tiffany & Co. (Left Ring), Bulgari (Right Pointer) Dress: Stine Goya
Another gem she wants to pass down to Hunter comes courtesy of Denzel Washington. âDenzel says, âYou’ve never seen a U-Haul trailer following a hearseâyou can’t take it with you,ââ she recounts with a smile. âAnother good gem he told me was, âMan gives awards, God gives rewards.â You can’t buy quality timeâit’s actually priceless.â She elaborates, âI don’t subscribe to the idea that money is the solution. I’ve had it, I’ve lost it, I’ve had it, I’ve lost it, I’ve had it again.â
Diamonds are forged under extreme pressureâthey go through a lot in order to arrive at perfect clarity. Talking to Smollett, one gets the sense that sheâs lived, devising a way to thrive under even the most challenging conditions. Between her turn in Lou and her roster of forthcoming projects, Jurnee Smollettâs brilliance is very much in evidence.
Director/Photographer: Mark Lim
Creative Director: Lizzy Oppenheimer
Stylist: Alexandra Mandelkorn
Hair: Nikki Nelms
Makeup: Jorge Monroy
Manicure: Emi Kudo
Director of Photography: Carl Knight
Video Editor: Bruno Alves
Colorist: Natasha Wong
Sound Composer: Mark Lim
Assistant Camera: Kelvin Kataria
Steadicam: Gio Barot
Key Gaffer: Robert Olivia Junior
Best Boy Electric: Dave Blundell
Key Grip: Beau Beagles
Best Boy Grip: Roman Reardon
Digital Tech: Yuhsing Lim
Photo Assistant: Patrick Molina
Stylist Assistant: Drew Cockrell
Tailor: Maureen Lessman
Sound Recording: Kai Morrison
Produced by: Petty Cash Production
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