Christopher Fragapane/FOX Actor, director, and musician Jussie Smollett landed his breakout role onEmpirein 2015, playing Jamal Lyon. In 2019, he claimed to be the victim of a hate crime, but police believed it was a hoax, prompting a years-long legal battle. Smollett is the subject of a new Netflix documentary,The Truth About Jussie Smollett, which is now streaming. Jussie Smolletthas become one of Hollywood's most polarizing figures. The actor's once-promising career, which began in childhood and crescendoed with a breakout TV role, went off the rails after a personal incident morphed into a full-blown legal soap opera. After appearing inThe Mighty Ducks(1992) amid a string of TV performances, he took a break from acting until 2012. Not long afterward, he secured his best-known role on the musical dramaEmpire(2015–2019) and even landed in theAlienfranchise. Then came the event that changed his career. In early 2019, he was reportedly the victim of a hate crime, but the actor was later accused ofstaging the incidenthimself. Barry Wetcher/Open Road Films/Everett Collection Smollett has been the subject of tabloid fodder and speculation for years. Now, a newNetflixdocumentary,The Truth About Jussie Smollett,revisits the case via interviews with the Chicago police officials, lawyers, reporters, and witnesses in its orbit. The documentary also features new interviews with Smollett himself, who maintains his innocence, and Ola and Abel Osundairo, the brothers who claim the actor hired them to help stage the assault. "Despite arduous and expensive attempts to punish me, I am innocent in the eyes of God and our criminal justice system," Smollett wrote in asocial media statementin May 2025. Here's everything to know about Jussie Smollett's case and where he is today. Disney+ Smollett began his career in the early '90s, first appearing in the TV movieA Little Piece of Heaven(1991) alongsideKirk Cameron, Oscar winnerCloris Leachman, and fellow up-and-comerLacey Chabert. He gained further notice as young hockey player Terry Hall in the Disney sports classicThe Mighty Ducks(1992). His career continued with a small role in the Alex Haley-penned miniseriesQueen(1993), alongsideHalle BerryandDanny Glover, and on the big screen inRob Reiner'sNorth(1994). Then came a family affair on NBC's sitcomOn Our Own(1994–1995), where he starred alongside his five siblings, including future Emmy nominee Jurnee Smollett. "To this day, we are the only Black family that had all of the siblings in a scripted show," SmolletttoldVariety. "The Culkins cannot say that. The Phoenixes cannot say that." After the show's conclusion, Smollett took a 17-year break from acting. "I wasn't a child star. I was just a working actor," he toldOutin 2016. "And then I wasn't a cutesy kid anymore, but I also wasn't a leading man." In 2012, Smollett began his return to the spotlight. He appeared in the indie filmThe Skinny, landed a guest spot onThe Mindy Project, and launched a music career with his debut EP,Poisoned Hearts Club. Chuck Hodes/FOX His most acclaimed role came in 2015 with his casting onEmpire.He starred as Jamal Lyon, a talented gay musician set to potentially take over the family music empire that his parents, Lucious (Terrence Howard) and Cookie (Taraji P. Henson), are fighting to control. It's a role Smollett personally fought for. "I immediately jumped on Instagram and I direct messaged [Empireco-creator] Lee Daniels and I said, 'I know that you get this all the time, but I sing, I act, I dance, I write music; I'm a musician. I am Jamal Lyon in more ways than one,'" hetold EW in 2015. "He took me through the wringer to make sure that I was the one for Jamal. I went in seven different times. He made me sing for my life." Twentieth Century Fox During that small-screen run, the then-rising star landed roles inRidley Scott'sAlien: Covenant(2017) and theChadwick Boseman-led biopicMarshall(2017), in which Smollett played legendary poet Langston Hughes. HisEmpirerole came to a sudden halt, however, after he was accused of staging a hate crime against himself. Courtesy of Netflix Smollett, a gay Black man, claimed he was attacked late at night on Jan. 29, 2019, while walking back to his apartment from a Subway restaurant. He alleges that two men yelled racist and homophobic remarks, claimed they were in "MAGA country," and put a noose around his neck, per theNew York Times. Smollett initially identified his attackers as white males, but the ensuing police investigation took a turn when two Nigerian-American brothers, Olabinjo "Ola" Osundairo and Abimbola "Abel" Osundairo, emerged as the prime suspects. After being detained for questioning, the brothers alleged that Smollett orchestrated the attack himself, paying the brothers $3,500 for their involvement, perAP News. "He was telling us this is just a thing that's done in Hollywood," Ola says inThe Truth About Jussie Smollett. "He was going to take the footage that was caught on the camera by his building and put it on social media." "I believe he wanted to be the poster boy of activism for Black people, for gay people, or for marginalized people," adds Abel. On Feb. 20, 2019, the Chicago Police Departmentcharged Smollettwith filing a false police report. Heturned himself inthe next day. On March 8, 2019, a grand jury indicted him on16 felony countsof disorderly conduct. E. Jason Wambsgans-Pool/Getty Less than three weeks later, thecharges were dropped. Eddie T. Johnson, Chicago police superintendent, said he believed prosecutors secretly brokered a deal and that the allegedly staged attack was a "publicity stunt...to promote his career," perABC News Chicago. Assistant State Attorney Joe Magats admitted he was satisfied with the arrangement, while standing behind the investigation "and the facts revealed." "Our goal and our No. 1 priority is combating violent crime and the drivers of violence and we look to our resources to do that and I don't think that Mr. Smollett is a driver of violence or a violent individual," Magats said. "In return for forfeiting his bond to the City of Chicago and doing his community service, we agreed to dismiss the charges against him." In June 2019, the case was reopened when Cook County Judge Michael Toomin appointed a special prosecutor to review the charges, per theNew York Times. In February 2020, the actor wasindicted on six counts of disorderly conduct. On Dec. 9, 2021, Smollett was found guilty on five of six counts. Three months later, he wassentencedto 30 months of felony probation, 150 days in jail, and ordered to pay over $120,000 in restitution to the city of Chicago. EW previously reported that Smollett maintained his innocence during his sentencing hearing. Upon appeal, he wasreleasedafter serving six days in jail and posting a $150,000 bond. Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty In 2024, the Illinois Supreme Courtoverturned Smollett's 2021 conviction. His legal team successfully argued that the actor should not have been charged again because he fulfilled his side of the bargain — namely, 15 hours of community service and forfeiture of 10% of his original $100,000 bond — in the resolution of his prior indictment. Special prosecutor Dan Webb was unequivocal in his response to the overturned conviction. "The ruling has nothing to do with Mr. Smollett's innocence,"Webb told the press. "The Illinois Supreme Court did not find any error with the overwhelming evidence presented at trial that Mr. Smollett orchestrated a fake hate crime and reported it to the Chicago Police Department as a real hate crime, or the jury's unanimous verdict that Mr. Smollett was guilty of five counts of felony disorderly conduct." With the case officially closed, Smollett spoke withPEOPLEin 2024, expressing his appreciation for those who stuck by him. "I'm grateful for the people that know who I am… I'm grateful for the folks that would stand up and defend me, not because they have to, but because they want to, and because they not only believe in me, but they believe me," he said. "I have some pretty incredible people in my corner, and I am here still because of them. If I did not have them, I can tell you honestly, I wouldn't still be here." Smollett adamantly maintains his innocence inThe Truth About Jussie Smollett,and points out that his story hasn't changed in the past six years. To this day, he claims he was attacked by two white men, not the Osundairo brothers. In the documentary, he directly disputes several of the brothers' claims. They allege that Smollett paid them for their participation in the alleged hoax. A check from Smollett to Abel for $3,500 — as well as a text message from Smollett to Abel saying he needed Abel's "help on the low" — were key pieces of evidence in the trial. Smollett says the check was payment for Abel's services as a personal trainer. The text, meanwhile, was regarding the procurement of a steroid. "That was for an herbal steroid," he says in the documentary. "I'm embarrassed to say this, but it was for an herbal steroid that was illegal here in the U.S. that could be gotten in Nigeria, and it was to lose belly fat." Similarly, he claims the reason hedidn't hand over his cell phone to the policeimmediately after the incident was that he didn't want his drug use exposed. Smollett calls the investigators who claim he orchestrated the hoax "liars," saying that they "made it up, every single bit of it." Courtesy of Netflix Smollett is in the early stages of trying to launch a Hollywood comeback. He recently made his feature directorial debut withB-Boy Blues(2021). In 2024, he directed and starred oppositeVivica A. FoxinThe Lost Holliday, marking his first acting role since leavingEmpire. In May 2025, Smollett announced he wouldmake a $50,000 donationto the Building Brighter Futures Center for the Arts. The offering was part of a deal to secure his case's dismissal, but he insisted it was not an admission of guilt. "Over six years ago, after it was reported I had been jumped, city officials in Chicago set out to convince the public that I willfully set an assault against myself. This false narrative has left a stain on my character that will not soon disappear," Smollett wrote on Instagram at the time. "These officials wanted my money and wanted my confession for something I did not do. Today, it should be clear… They have received neither." This past June, the 43-year-old actorannounced his engagementto his boyfriend, actor Jabari Redd. In August, EW exclusively announced that Smollett would be a cast member on season 4 ofSpecial Forces: World's Toughest Test, a reality competition series in which celebrities partake in challenges used in the real-life Special Forces selection process. He'll compete alongsideThe Real Housewives of New Jersey'sTeresa Giudice,The Valley's Brittany Cartwright, and football star Johnny Manziel. The Truth About Jussie Smollettis now streaming on Netflix. Sign up forEntertainment Weekly's free daily newsletterto get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more. Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly