Jodie Turner-Smith

So I was really excited when I came to America about meeting black people. But it was a huge culture shock, because…

— Jodie Turner-Smith

I think of L.A. as my home now, in large part because I became the entity that I am in L.A. I…

— Jodie Turner-Smith

There was this wave of people who were upset that I was possibly married to a white man.

— Jodie Turner-Smith

I didn't come to L.A. thinking, okay, I'm going to be an actor, so my progression was just kind of organic, starting…

— Jodie Turner-Smith

While I might not have a specific experience that is fully American, there is still a knowledge, something that I logically understand…

— Jodie Turner-Smith

We definitely experience racism in England and different levels of oppression as well. Anywhere affected by colonialism there's certain kinds of race…

— Jodie Turner-Smith

I think about what I grew up seeing, what I didn't see growing up, and what it felt like when I did…

— Jodie Turner-Smith

People are making a lot more noise about representation and diversity. But I think modeling is one of the professions where people…

— Jodie Turner-Smith

It's a very complicated relationship that I have with America. I love it so much. And I also see the places where…

— Jodie Turner-Smith

When I first started in modeling, I went back to England, and it was really hard, because I would go around to…

— Jodie Turner-Smith

I am deeply moved by sculptures of powerful women.

— Jodie Turner-Smith

My family is Jamaican. We were just the slaves that were dropped off over there. And at the end of the day…

— Jodie Turner-Smith

I read the 'Nightflyers' novella and knowing that it was something that had been written by George R.R. Martin, knowing how those…

— Jodie Turner-Smith

I watched the Sandra Bland documentary and her tape itself over and over and over and over again, and just the reality…

— Jodie Turner-Smith

The racial dynamics over here are fraught. White supremacy is overt. It's the reason I don't want to raise my kids here.

— Jodie Turner-Smith

The first job I booked was on 'True Blood.' I played a blood siren.

— Jodie Turner-Smith

I think there's always been a little performer in me. But having a family that are Jamaican immigrants, having this idea that,…

— Jodie Turner-Smith

I'm learning there are certain things I have to really keep for myself.

— Jodie Turner-Smith

What's unique about America is that the country itself was built upon oppression, it's in the very foundation.

— Jodie Turner-Smith

I don't really believe in coincidence.

— Jodie Turner-Smith

The fact that I'm being cast in a show to play a female lead and I'm the dark-skinned Black woman with short…

— Jodie Turner-Smith

Even with my family, I feel sort of 'other.' I'm the only one of my siblings who wasn't born in Jamaica. For…

— Jodie Turner-Smith

I've always been 'other' in all the spaces that I've been in. Even when I first moved to America, just the idea…

— Jodie Turner-Smith

I understand we love to talk about black girl magic, but sometimes that is a term that allows people to put us…

— Jodie Turner-Smith

That callousness that comes from feeling like you have to survive on your own - I really empathized with that.

— Jodie Turner-Smith