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Jake Smollett | |
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![]() Smollett at the 2009 Comic-Con | |
Born | New York, New York, U.S. | July 29, 1989
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1992–present |
Relatives | Jussie Smollett (brother) Jurnee Smollett (sister) |
Jake Smollett (born July 29, 1989) is an American actor and cooking personality.
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Smollett was born in New York City to a family of actors, the son of Janet ( née Harris) and Joel Smollett. [1] His father was Ashkenazi Jewish (his family immigrated from Russia and Poland), and his mother is African-American. [2] [3] [4] [5] Smollett began his career as a diaper model. His first role in a scripted series was in Hangin' with Mr. Cooper . He then starred alongside his five brothers and sisters in the ABC sitcom, On Our Own . Smollett also starred alongside his sister Jurnee Smollett as Samuel L. Jackson's son in the critically acclaimed [6] feature film Eve's Bayou , [7] directed by Kasi Lemmons. He was in ABC Family's [8] The Middleman . Jake portrayed Noser, [9] a character derived from Javier Grillo-Marxuach's [10] comic book. The entire cast of The Middleman sat on the panel for Comic-Con in July 2009.
In 2016, Smollett joined his five siblings—brothers Jojo Smollett, Jussie Smollett, Jocqui Smollett and sisters Jazz Smollett and Jurnee Smollett—on Food Network to cook family-style meals every Saturday on Smollett Eats. He also appeared as a guest judge on Food Network's hit show Chopped Junior . In 2017, Jake joined Rachael Ray on The Rachael Ray Show all season long for cooking segments.