Jodie Turner-Smith

Jodie Turner-Smith (born 7 September 1986) is a British actress. She made her feature film debut in The Neon Demon (2016) and has since acted in Queen & Slim (2019), After Yang (2022), and White Noise (2022). She is also known for her television roles in the TNT series The Last Ship (2017), the Syfy series Nightflyers (2018), and for portraying the title role in the Channel 5 series Anne Boleyn (2021).

Early life
Turner-Smith was born on 7 September 1986 in Peterborough, England to Jamaican parents; she is the only one of her siblings who was not born in Jamaica. She resided in Peterborough until she was 10 years old. After her parents divorced, she emigrated to the United States with her mother, brother and half-sister, residing in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Turner-Smith studied finance at the University of Pittsburgh; she graduated in 2008 and subsequently worked at a bank. She has lived in Los Angeles since 2009.

Career
In 2009, a mutual friend introduced Turner-Smith to musician Pharrell Williams after a N.E.R.D. concert. When she told him she was looking to become a writer, he convinced her to become a model and move to Los Angeles.

She made her acting debut in 2013 as a siren in True Blood, which led to numerous minor roles in films and music videos between 2013 and 2017. During this time, she was credited as Jodie Smith. In 2016, she appeared in the music video for Zayn Malik's "Pillowtalk."

Turner-Smith first came to prominence playing Sgt. Azima Kandie in the 2017–2018 season of the TNT series The Last Ship. She had a major role as Melantha Jhirl in the 2018 Syfy/Netflix series Nightflyers.

She played Josie in the Cinemax series Jett, which premiered in June 2019, and starred in the 2019 film Queen & Slim opposite Daniel Kaluuya.

In October 2020, it was announced that Turner-Smith would be portraying Queen Anne Boleyn in Anne Boleyn, a three-part drama series on Channel 5, which details the final months of Boleyn's life. Her casting was met with backlash due to her race. The series premiered in May 2021, with Turner-Smith's performance receiving praise.

In January 2021, it was announced that she was cast as Éile, a warrior blessed with the voice of a goddess, in The Witcher: Blood Origin, a six-episode limited series prequel to The Witcher. In April 2021, Netflix announced that she had departed the project due to scheduling conflicts and a change in the production schedule.

Turner-Smith starred in Kogonada’s sci-fi drama After Yang alongside Colin Farrell. The film was released in March 2022. In September 2022, she joined the Star Wars Disney+ series The Acolyte.

In June 2023, it was announced that Turner-Smith would join the cast of Tron: Ares alongside Jared Leto.

Personal life
Turner-Smith began a relationship with actor Joshua Jackson in October 2018. They married in late 2019 and their daughter was born in April 2020. In October 2023, it was revealed that Turner-Smith had filed for divorce from Jackson.

In 2019, Turner-Smith expressed ambivalence about becoming an American citizen but said she would consider doing so.