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Hollywood Power Couple Joshua Jackson And Jodie Turner-smith Strive To Empower Creatives From All Walks Of Life

Joshua Jackson and Jodie Turner-Smith are a husband and wife team with long careers in film and television. They are both making waves in Hollywood today, and they support each other’s success. Together, they strive to make a positive impact on the lives of others.

Jodie and Joshua, in partnership with Motorola Razr, are devoting their time to support other creatives on the rise through Generation Next’s “The Call that Started it All.”

Joshua, who has starred in both timeless classics such as The Mighty Ducks and Dawson’s Creek as well as more recent works like Dr. Death, tells me reflectively that he remembers the key moments early in his career that changed everything for him. He feels honored to be part of a project now that is trying to do the same for other young designers just starting out.

Jodie, who has starred in Queen & Slim, After Yang and the miniseries Anne Boleyn, among other critically-acclaimed films, said of teaming up with Teen Vogue to celebrate diverse and inclusive fashion designers: “I definitely think it’s really amazing to team up with Teen Vogue and celebrate the diverse and inclusive fashion designers, especially to have this happen in the middle of what is Fashion Month. In my life and with my work, I’m all about creating opportunities for people, so I was very excited by this plan that supports and elevates young designers that want to say something through design.”

I’m all about creating opportunities for people in my life and work, so I was thrilled when I came across this plan that supports young designers who want to express themselves through their work.

Joshua and Jodie met at a party in 2018, and they’ve been married ever since. They now have a daughter together. Motorola credits these two as “change makers,” so I wondered how this powerful couple would define being a “change maker” in our constantly changing culture today.

Hollywood Power Couple Joshua Jackson And Jodie Turner-smith Strive To Empower Creatives From All Walks Of Life
Forbes

Jodie starts by saying, “I think that being a ‘change maker’ means being a person who uses your voice, your platform, your actions, your integrity to try and push your community to change for the better. I think that change happens on a micro-level, person-to-person, and it’s really about who we are in our everyday lives and how that touches the people around us, so that we can actually see change happen on a macro-level. I know that myself as a black woman, I think in my existence, it is about trying to make a stand for pushing change forward, because without that, I would continue to be oppressed.”

Joshua adds, “I agree with all of that and I would just add to it the component – I think it starts with yourself. Part of the way that I think you can be a ‘change maker’ in the world is to be honest with yourself – to examine your own thoughts, opinions and biases. Think about the things that you can and cannot live with and then, endeavor to change the inequities that you see, first in yourself in your own thinking, then out in the world.”

Despite it being 2022, Jodie and Joshua – an interracial couple – still receive the odd derogatory comment about their relationship on social media. So, how do they effectively ignore any non-supportive comments directed towards them on Instagram posts? “Don’t read the comments,” says Jodie.

Jodie says that the only way Hollywood can become more inclusive of people from all backgrounds is to have open conversations about it.
In order to achieve equality, we need not only diverse representation in front of the camera but also behind it and among those working below-the-line.
“I think that the only way to move anything forward is just be in the conversation, at least. I think in the same way that we’re pushing for representation in front of the camera, we also need to make sure that extends to more than that – to behind the camera, to below the line, to the people that are producing things. I think that when we really extend that conversation to every walk of life, then we’re going to start seeing some real positive changes in our world as a whole.”

Joshua continues, “I think when you speak about our industry directly, I think that our industry is always in a conversation in the culture that it sits within and I think the culture has moved beyond the industry and it took us some time to catch up to the realities of the world that we live in. I’m very happy that we’re at least in a more open place to talk about having more inclusive stories being told, more inclusive people, like Jodie said, in front of the camera and behind the camera. I think we also have to be realistic that we have a really long, long, long, long way to go because these are both industry problems and broader cultural problems. We’ve only just scratched the surface of the cultural conversation that we need to be in to really take a step forward.”

I asked Jodie, who caught everyone’s attention with her fashion choices at the 2022 Venice International Film Festival, if she simply chooses her outfits for fun or if she uses them as a way to send a message to the world.

“I think it’s a mix of both,” Jodie continues “Like I said before, it’s a form of personal expression but I’m also pushing for diversity not just in front of the camera but behind it too.
I want to empower black creatives, black stylists My hairstylists are black, as are my makeup artists and I appreciate the work of black designers.
I try to focus on black designers, and it’s fascinating because while at Venice, one thing I definitely noticed was that it isn’t particularly black (laughs)! As opposed to the city or the event itself, I mean. We may not be well represented in movies, but we were certainly represented on my body, so it felt really special to be wearing so many black designers on the red carpet since while we may not be here adequately represented in films, we were clearly portrayed on my person. That has always been kind of my objective in life.
By advancing this narrative, we are highlighting the beauty, creativity, power and strength of black communities all over the world.”

Many of us have come to know Joshua and Jodie as a Hollywood couple through photographs alone, so I decided to conclude my discussion with Joshua and Jodie by asking them what they love most about their spouse and joint parent of their young daughter.

Joshua starts off by saying of his wife Jodie, “I will say one thing that’s actually fashion-related and one thing that is just about my wonderful wife and the spectacular mother that she is. The joy it is to watch her be in the process and be becoming a mother and how honored I feel to get to be next to that – to witness it, to watch it grow, to hopefully nurture it in its growth. I love how empowered my wife is inside of that fashion space – how much it is a source of joy and that bleeds into her home life, as well. I love watching my wife be able to be uplifted and celebrated and seeing how fed she is by that makes me a very, very happy man when I get to see that.”

Jodie concludes our conversation with, “When I met Josh and one of the biggest reasons why I married him, wanted him to be my husband, is because of how loved and supported I felt by him. I had never been with anyone who I thought was wanting to lift me up the way that I felt that he was lifting me up. That is one of my favorite things about him. I think as a woman and as a black woman, the world is a rough place and there’s a lot of obstacles in our way. When somebody that you love comes together with you and says I want you to see your dreams come true.

Especially as women, I think we’re always kind of asked to play a secondary role in relationships and support the goals of our men. That’s kind of just like a societal thing. That’s conditioning that we sometimes aren’t even aware of – why I feel that women are often apologizing for themselves and not taking up space. And so, what I admire is the strength of a man to be able to have a powerful woman and want to lift her up and not break her down. It has been so magical to just see him be a dad. I mean, I can’t think of a person in the world who doesn’t have some form of ‘daddy issues,’ so when you see someone fathering in this really beautiful way and think to yourself Wow, I’m actually setting my daughter up for such a beautiful life because look at this wonderful relationship that she has with her father and is going to have and that really gives me a lot of comfort.”

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