I’m embarrassed, ashamed, and all together excited that Jodie Turner-Smith got on my radar when the news of Lena Waithe’s Queen & Slim dropped.
With a catalog of work that includes the HBO hit True Blood, two sci-fi TV series, and the sexy Cinemax crime thriller Jett, the 30-year-old Jamaican native is already building her following on the small screen. I had to wonder why I hadn’t been watching everything she’s done up to this point. One explanation is that I don’t particularly stan for sci-fi, I was one of the only people in the U.S. who didn’t go crazy over True Blood (hold the comments), and I don’t currently subscribe to Cinemax.
But, it only took one look and I was obsessed, falling down a rabbit hole of her Instagram posts, liking every photo of her gorgeous deep brown skin, her coily ever-so-changing tresses, and her seemingly fun and cheeky personality that comes through her photos. She could be woman, cyborg, vampire, or siren—I am here for her look. And I suspect that the beauty brands will feel the same.
(Randy Shropshire/Getty Images) 
(Frazer Harrison/Getty Images) 
(Instagram/@jodiesmith) 
(Instagram/@jodiesmith)
She reminds me of the second coming of Grace Jones, who’s been a style and beauty icon for many (including myself) for decades. Once Queen & Slim officially premieres in November, Turner-Smith should be on a head-spinning ascend, being wooed by makeup brands that carry highly pigmented color cosmetics for melanin rich skin, skincare brands that actually deliver on the kind of flawless that her skin embodies, and fragrance brands that want an ambassador who’s dripping with the kind of unique sex appeal that you just can’t teach.
A “queen with a crown that be down for whatever,” we want her as our ride or die just as much as Daniel Kaluuya’s Slim, or her real life bae Joshua Jackson. It’s exciting to see how her career grows and she makes it easy to champion for her. So me and my squad will be front row in theaters this fall, and eagerly waiting to see which beauty brand is lucky enough to scoop her up as their next face.