Jurnee Smollett Clocks in as the Flavor Flav of the Family
Your Mama’s Kitchen
Higher Ground
4.6 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 29 July 2025
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Actress Jurnee Smollett talks lessons in activism and creativity from her family. Being one of six children, Jurnee recounts how her mother was able to juggle care for all the kids while prioritizing their creative spark. From the Smollett's Swiss-Family-Robinson-style upbringing, to her mother befriending craft services for custom meals, Jurnee paints the picture of her childhood as a young actress to now. And she share's her mother's recipe for 7th Ward Gumbo!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Performing was what it was just a natural part of our life, a part of our family. |
| 0:13.5 | My mom didn't want for Mother's Day or her birthday. |
| 0:17.1 | She didn't want presents. |
| 0:18.1 | She didn't want flowers. |
| 0:19.4 | She wanted us to do a concert. |
| 0:22.1 | And it had to be a full on concert, full on professional, costume changes, you know, songs. |
| 0:30.2 | I mean, she wanted the whole production. And so that was just a part of it. Yeah. |
| 0:36.9 | Yeah. |
| 0:47.7 | Hello, hello, and welcome back to your mama's kitchen. |
| 0:53.8 | This is the place where we explore how we are shaped as adults by the kitchens that we grew up in as kids. |
| 0:55.0 | And of course, we're talking about the food and the cooking, but all the other stuff that happens there, too. The games, the homework |
| 0:59.8 | at the table, unpacking the groceries, the music on the radio. I'm Michelle Norris. |
| 1:06.0 | And our guest today is a very talented actor, Journey Smollett. She's always been a natural on set from the minute |
| 1:15.5 | she stepped in front of a camera, which was a very early age. She started very young playing |
| 1:21.1 | roles on sitcoms like On Our Own and Full House. She even won a Critics Choice Award as an 11-year-old for a role that she played |
| 1:29.8 | in the film, Eve's Bayou. She was in one of my favorite movies, Roll Bounce. And lately, you have seen |
| 1:36.7 | her in Lovecraft Country, in True Blood. And right now, she is starring in Apple TV's crime drama |
| 1:43.9 | called Smoke. We're going to learn all |
| 1:46.9 | about the places where she grew up and how the kitchens influenced who she is today. |
| 1:53.3 | Journey, thanks so much for being with us. I'm so excited to be here. I really am. |
| 1:58.2 | And congratulations on Smoke. Thank you. |
| 2:01.4 | It's interesting. |
... |
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