Jodie Turner-Smith is a woman who knows how to get on with it. It should be unsurprising, considering the career the actress has managed to carve out for herself in just a few short years—you don’t go from a Melina Matsoukas feature (Queen & Slim [2019]) to playing Anne Boleyn (Anne Boleyn [2021]), star in a Kogonada two-hander (After Yang [2021]) and then play God herself in Sex Education if you’re a slouch—and yet on the bleary Thursday morning of our call, Jodie Turner-Smith does just that. She surprises me.
There is usually a rhythm to these sorts of conversations. They begin rigid and polite, one measuring the other’s sincerity through a blurred screen. Personal anecdotes come later, after they’ve marked you as safe and trustworthy. This is not the case with Turner-Smith. The first words out of the actor’s mouth aren’t guarded—there’s no, “It’s lovely to meet you,” or, “Thank you for taking the time.” She begins instead with a sweetly rasped confession:
“Today was my daughter’s first day of kindergarten. It was so emotional. It sounds cliché but I can’t believe it. She’s growing up so fast.”
I apologize for the call taking up time she could be using to process this milestone; she waves it away.
“That’s life. We don’t always get the moment to process what’s happening.” See more photos inside…
Jodie in Burberry coat and rings
Jodie in Burberry dress and earrings
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Photographed by Miles Aldridge at 2bmanagement
Styled by Oliver Volquardsen
Written by Ayan Artan
Hair: Marcia Lee
Makeup: Joey Choy at The Wall Group
Nails: Sabrina Gayle at Arch the Agency
Set Design: Trish Stephenson
Photo Assistants: Kate Rosewell and Luce Scaglione Martini
