Jussie Smollett (/ˈdʒʌsi/ JUSS-ee, born June 21, 1982) is an American actor and singer. He began his career as a child actor in 1991, acting in films such as The Mighty Ducks (1992) and Rob Reiner's North (1994). In 2015, Smollett portrayed musician Jamal Lyon in the Fox drama series Empire, a role that was hailed as groundbreaking for its positive depiction of a black gay man on television. Smollett has also appeared in Ridley Scott's science fiction film Alien: Covenant (2017) as Ricks and in Marshall (2017) as Langston Hughes.
Smollett was indicted in February 2019 for disorderly conduct for allegedly staging a fake hate crime assault. The charges were dropped the following month, but in February 2020 he was reindicted on similar charges relating to the same incident.