Justin "Jussie" Smollett is an American actor and singer. He began his career as a child actor in 1987 acting in films including The Mighty Ducks and Rob Reiner's North. In 2015, Smollett portrayed musician Jamal Lyon in the Fox drama series Empire, a role that was hailed as groundbreaking for its positive depiction of a black gay man on television. Smollett has also appeared in Ridley Scott's science fiction film Alien: Covenant as Ricks and in Marshall as Langston Hughes.Smollett was indicted in February 2019, for disorderly conduct for allegedly staging a fake hate crime assault. The charges were dropped the following month, but in February 2020 he was reindicted on similar charges relating to the same incident.