Janet Smollett is best known as the mother and influential guiding figure behind the Smollett family, a family whose six children became involved in acting, music, television, food, and other creative fields. Although Janet herself has maintained a relatively private life compared with her famous children, her influence can be seen throughout the family’s history. She helped create a home in which creativity, education, independence, food, family discussion, and cultural awareness were important parts of everyday life.
Her story is particularly interesting because the Smollett children did not simply become individually successful in Hollywood. At one stage, all six siblings appeared together on television, turning their real-life family closeness into the basis for the 1994 ABC sitcom On Our Own. Contemporary reporting described Janet as the children’s manager and emphasized the important role she played in supporting their early entertainment careers.
Who Is Janet Smollett?
Janet Smollett is the mother of JoJo, Jazz, Jussie, Jurnee, Jake, and Jocqui Smollett. She and her husband, Joel Smollett, raised their children in a household that combined entertainment ambitions with strong family values. Rather than treating acting as the only measure of success, Janet encouraged her children to develop broader interests, including reading, sports, music, cooking, and creative activities.
Her influence became particularly visible during the children’s early years in entertainment. A 1994 Los Angeles Times profile of the family described Janet as their manager and showed how involved she was while the siblings were working on On Our Own. The article also noted that she wanted her children to understand that there was more to life than acting.
This approach helps explain why the Smollett children developed careers in several different directions. Some became actors, while others became involved with food, production, technology, writing, and other creative pursuits. Their careers were not simply the product of one television appearance; they reflected a childhood in which creativity was encouraged within a close-knit family environment.
Janet Smollett and Joel Smollett
Janet’s family story is closely connected with her husband, Joel Smollett. Joel was of Jewish and Eastern European background, while Janet’s family roots are associated with New Orleans and African American culture. Their children consequently grew up exposed to multiple cultural and religious traditions.
A Houston Chronicle account of the family’s cookbook described Janet as Galveston-born and New Orleans-raised and explained that Joel was of Jewish and Eastern European descent. The children grew up celebrating traditions including Christmas, Hanukkah, Easter, and Passover.
This combination of backgrounds became one of the distinctive characteristics of the Smollett household. Food was one of the places where those traditions naturally came together. Janet’s cooking drew from her New Orleans background, while the family also incorporated influences associated with their father’s heritage and the many places in which they lived.
Joel and Janet also created a household in which the children were encouraged to communicate with one another. The family’s later recollections repeatedly describe the dinner table as a place where the children could discuss ideas, disagree, learn to express themselves, and remain connected.
Janet Smollett Raised Six Children
Janet and Joel’s six children eventually became the most visible part of their family story. JoJo, Jazz, Jussie, Jurnee, Jake, and Jocqui each followed different professional paths, although several became involved in entertainment.
When the Los Angeles Times profiled the family in 1994, the children ranged from teenager JoJo to baby Jacqui. The article described an unusually close group of siblings who enjoyed working together and who viewed their family relationship as one of their greatest strengths.
Janet’s parenting philosophy was unusual in one particularly memorable respect. She explained that she had raised each child as though that child were an only child. This approach appears to have been intended to give each sibling individual attention while maintaining the collective identity of the family.
The children themselves frequently spoke about their closeness. Rather than presenting their success as a competition among siblings, they described performing together as something enjoyable because they already knew each other’s personalities and rhythms.
Janet Smollett and the Beginning of Her Children’s Acting Careers
The Smollett children’s involvement in entertainment began when they were young. According to the 1994 Los Angeles Times profile, the children watched other young performers on television and eventually thought that they could perform as well. Janet helped turn that ambition into reality.
Jazz became a successful child model, while JoJo and Jussie appeared in early acting roles. Jurnee also began working as a child actress, including appearances on television programs such as Full House. Their careers gradually developed until the six siblings were brought together for On Our Own.
Janet’s involvement went beyond simply allowing her children to audition. The contemporary profile identified her as their manager and showed her accompanying and supporting them during their professional activities. Her role therefore combined the responsibilities of a mother with those of a career guide.
Janet Smollett and On Our Own
The 1994 sitcom On Our Own became one of the most significant chapters in the Smollett family’s history. The series featured the six Smollett children playing siblings who were attempting to remain together after the fictional deaths of their parents.
The premise was obviously different from the children’s real lives, but their genuine sibling relationship was an important part of the show’s appeal. The six performers already knew one another intimately, and that familiarity helped them interact naturally on camera.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the children enjoyed working together because they knew each other so well and could play comedy off one another. Their mother remained a source of comfort while they worked, illustrating the extent to which Janet continued to be involved in their lives even as they became professional performers.
Although On Our Own did not become a long-running television institution, it remains an important part of the Smollett family’s story. It demonstrated that the siblings could work collectively and established a public image of the family as an unusually close group of young performers.
Janet Smollett’s Parenting Philosophy
Janet’s parenting style appears to have emphasized independence without sacrificing family unity. Her children were encouraged to perform and pursue creative interests, but they were also expected to develop lives beyond entertainment.
The 1994 Los Angeles Times article specifically noted that Janet encouraged her children to read and participate in sports. The family reading list included works associated with Malcolm X and poetry by Langston Hughes.
That detail is significant because it shows that Janet’s approach was not simply about creating child stars. Education, cultural awareness, physical activity, and intellectual curiosity were presented as important parts of childhood.
Her influence can therefore be understood as broader than entertainment management. She helped establish an environment in which her children were encouraged to become well-rounded individuals who could express opinions and develop independent interests.
Janet Smollett and the Famous Family Table
Perhaps no object represents Janet Smollett’s influence more clearly than the family’s wooden kitchen table.
The Smollett children have repeatedly discussed how their mother would build a large wooden table when the family moved into a new home. The table became a central gathering place for meals, conversations, celebrations, disagreements, and family decisions.
The family’s childhood involved frequent relocation. Accounts associated with The Family Table describe the family moving around the United States numerous times, with the table serving as one of the constants that traveled conceptually from one home to another.
Instead of seeing a move as the end of one family chapter and the beginning of another, Janet recreated a familiar environment. The kitchen table helped provide continuity regardless of the family’s location.
This is one reason the table eventually became much more than a piece of furniture. It became a symbol of Janet’s approach to family life.
Why the Family Table Became So Important
For the Smollett children, the table was a place where everyone had a voice. The siblings have described conversations around the table as opportunities to discuss ideas, challenge each other, and debate different perspectives.
The Houston Chronicle reported that the family’s table was considered the heart of the household. It was where the children ate together and where family life unfolded.
That tradition also helped shape the children’s later careers. Their ability to communicate, collaborate, entertain one another, and work collectively became useful when several of them entered television and other creative industries.
The table represented something particularly important for a family that moved frequently. Homes changed, neighborhoods changed, and circumstances changed, but the ritual of gathering together remained.
Janet Smollett’s New Orleans Influence
Food provides another important connection to Janet’s background. Her New Orleans upbringing influenced the way the family cooked and ate.
According to the Houston Chronicle, Janet introduced her children to flavors associated with Cajun cooking, seafood, rice, garlic, herbs, and hearty one-pot meals. Her cooking was also characterized by creativity and practicality, reflecting a family that sometimes had to make a great deal of food with limited resources.
This culinary background later became a significant part of the Smollett family’s public identity. Several of the siblings developed careers connected to food and television, and their family recipes eventually became the foundation for a published cookbook.
Janet Smollett and The Family Table Cookbook
In 2018, members of the Smollett family published The Family Table: Recipes & Moments from a Nomadic Life. The cookbook was created by Jazz Smollett-Warwell, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Jussie Smollett, and Jake Smollett, and it combined recipes with memories from their upbringing.
The cookbook’s central idea was strongly connected to Janet. The family table was not simply a place where food was served; it represented the values that had held the family together through years of moving.
The Houston Chronicle reported that the cookbook contained 125 recipes and described the food as reflecting the family’s improvisational approach to cooking. Many recipes were designed for larger groups, which made sense for a household that had eight people when both parents and all six children were together.
The cookbook therefore offered readers a window into the family environment Janet had created decades earlier.
Janet Smollett’s Approach to Cooking
Janet’s cooking style was influenced by both practicality and creativity. One example reported by the Houston Chronicle involved transforming inexpensive ramen noodles into a more substantial meal by replacing the standard flavor packet with ingredients such as mushrooms, chicken, miso, kale, spinach, and bok choy.
That example illustrates an important part of the family’s philosophy. Food did not have to be expensive to be meaningful or enjoyable. Cooking could involve experimentation, resourcefulness, and the ability to transform ordinary ingredients into something memorable.
The children carried that philosophy into their own food-related careers. Jake Smollett, in particular, developed a reputation for cooking and television food appearances, while the broader family became associated with culinary programming and their cookbook.
Janet Smollett and Her Children’s Food Careers
The Smollett family’s interest in food eventually expanded beyond the home kitchen. Some of the siblings became involved with food television, and the family participated in projects such as Smollett Eats.
This development was a natural extension of the environment created by Janet. Food had been part of the children’s lives since childhood, so presenting family recipes and stories to an audience was not an entirely new direction.
The 2018 cookbook coverage made clear that the siblings viewed cooking as a continuation of their family history rather than merely another entertainment opportunity. Their recipes were connected to memories of childhood, travel, family celebrations, and their mother’s kitchen.
Janet Smollett and Her Children’s Individual Careers
Although the Smollett siblings became famous together, their careers eventually developed in different directions.
Jurnee Smollett became one of the family’s most established actors, building a substantial career in film and television. Jussie Smollett became widely recognized for his role as Jamal Lyon on Empire. Jazz became involved in acting, production, food, and lifestyle projects, while Jake developed his career around cooking and entertainment.
Jocqui pursued interests outside the entertainment spotlight, and JoJo’s early involvement with acting and the family television project forms part of the family’s history.
The variety of these careers reflects the broad environment in which Janet raised her children. The family was not dependent on one particular definition of success.
Janet Smollett’s Influence on Creativity
Creativity appears to have been a normal part of life in the Smollett household. The children acted, sang, cooked, debated, read, and experimented with different interests.
The 1994 Los Angeles Times profile noted that the children were already involved in music and discussed the possibility of forming a rap group.
Such details reveal that Janet and Joel were not simply preparing their children for one specific career. They were allowing them to explore their abilities collectively.
That freedom became particularly valuable as the siblings grew older and discovered individual interests. Their careers eventually expanded beyond the acting work that had first brought them public attention.
Janet Smollett and Family Values
Family unity is perhaps the most consistent theme in accounts of Janet Smollett.
The six children were raised to remain close, and their public statements during their childhood repeatedly emphasized how much they enjoyed one another’s company. Rather than portraying sibling rivalry as an unavoidable part of growing up, Janet encouraged cooperation and individuality at the same time.
The family table became a physical representation of this philosophy. Everyone gathered around the same table, but everyone was also encouraged to have a voice.
This balance between togetherness and independence is one of the clearest ways to understand Janet’s influence.
Janet Smollett’s Cultural Influence on Her Children
Janet’s background also contributed to her children’s broader cultural awareness. Her New Orleans roots introduced them to a rich Southern and Creole-influenced food culture, while their father’s Jewish heritage exposed them to another cultural tradition.
The family reportedly celebrated holidays from both backgrounds, creating an upbringing that incorporated different traditions rather than treating them as mutually exclusive.
This multicultural household became part of the family’s identity. Food, holidays, music, storytelling, and family gatherings all served as ways of connecting different parts of their heritage.
Janet Smollett’s Private Life
Despite the fame surrounding her children, Janet Smollett has generally remained far less visible than the rest of the family.
There is considerably more documented information about the professional lives of Jurnee, Jussie, Jazz, Jake, and the other siblings than about Janet’s personal career or everyday life. As a result, many internet biographies contain claims about her age, income, occupation, or private circumstances that are not supported equally well by reliable sources.
For an accurate account of Janet Smollett, it is better to focus on information supported by contemporary reporting and accounts from her children. The strongest documentation concerns her role as a mother, manager, cook, homemaker, and central figure in the family’s upbringing.
Janet Smollett and the Smollett Family Legacy
The most significant part of Janet Smollett’s legacy is arguably the family she helped raise.
Six children entered a range of creative and professional fields, with several becoming recognizable television and film personalities. Their ability to work together was evident from childhood, when all six participated in On Our Own.
Later, the family’s culinary projects demonstrated that their shared identity extended beyond acting. The cookbook The Family Table transformed memories of Janet’s cooking and the family’s wooden table into a published family history.
In that sense, Janet’s influence can be seen across multiple generations of the family’s story.
What Makes Janet Smollett’s Story Interesting?
Janet Smollett’s story stands out because her public significance does not primarily come from celebrity status of her own. Instead, her importance comes from the environment she created for her children.
She helped manage their early entertainment careers while encouraging them not to define themselves exclusively through acting. She created a strong family culture around meals and conversation. She maintained traditions through frequent moves. She encouraged reading, sports, music, and creativity. And she passed on culinary traditions that eventually became part of her children’s professional lives.
The wooden table is perhaps the simplest metaphor for all of this. Janet repeatedly built a physical gathering place for her family, while simultaneously building the habits and traditions that made the family feel connected wherever they lived.
Janet Smollett’s Lasting Place in the Smollett Family Story
Today, Janet Smollett remains an important figure in understanding how the Smollett family developed its unusual combination of entertainment, food, creativity, and close family relationships.
Her children became the public faces of the family, but their interviews and family projects repeatedly point back toward the environment created by their parents. Contemporary reporting from the family’s early television years and later coverage of The Family Table both show Janet as a powerful influence on the children’s development.
Her story is therefore not simply the biography of a celebrity mother. It is the story of a woman who helped turn family life into a foundation for creativity. The table she built became a place for food, debate, celebration, education, and connection, while her children carried those experiences into their own careers.
Janet Smollett may have lived much of her life away from the spotlight, but her influence is visible in the achievements of the six children she raised. From On Our Own to the family’s cookbook and food projects, the Smollett family’s public history repeatedly returns to the same themes: creativity, resilience, culture, food, and above all, family.
