Skai Jackson (born April 8, 2002) is an American actress who was included in ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

''s list of Most Influential Teens in 2016. She is best known for portraying the role of Zuri Ross in the

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

'' Jessie'' (2011–2015), which she subsequently reprised in its sequel ''

Bunk'd ''Bunk'd'' is an American Television comedy, comedy television series created by Pamela Eells O'Connell that premiered on Disney Channel on July 31, 2015. The series is a spinoff of ''Jessie (2011 TV series), Jessie'' and for the first three sea ...

'' (2015–2018). Jackson began acting at the age of five, making her debut in the film ''

Liberty Kid ''Liberty Kid'' is a 2007 low-budget American film directed by Ilya Chaiken. Plot Two friends Derrick and Tico lost their jobs at a concession stand at the Statue of Liberty because of the September 11 attacks. In order to make money, they beco ...

'' (2007). She has provided the voice of Glory Grant across the ''

Marvel Rising ''Marvel Rising'' is an American media franchise which was produced by Marvel Animation from 2018 to 2019, based on characters from Marvel Comics. The franchise focused on the Secret Warriors, a diverse team of teenage superheroes who must ban ...

'' series (2018–2019) and voiced Summer in the animated series '' DreamWorks Dragons: Rescue Riders'' (2019–2020). In 2019, Jackson released her

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

, ''Reach for the Skai: How to Inspire, Empower, and Clapback''. The following year, she was a semi-finalist on the 29th season of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

'' in 2020.

Early and personal life

Jackson was born in the

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

borough of New York City. She is of

Afro-Honduran Afro-Hondurans or Black Hondurans are Hondurans of Sub-Saharan African descent. The CIA world factbook regards their population to be around 2% of the country's population, while other sources estimate the percentage of Afro-Hondurans as being 10 ...

and

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

descent. She began her career as a

child model {{unsourced, date=August 2020 A child model refers to a child who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art, such as photography, painting and sculpture. Practice Artists have used ...

, appearing in numerous national commercials, including for Band-Aid,

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

Pepsi Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961. History Pepsi was ...

, and

Old Navy Old Navy is an American clothing and accessories retailing company owned by multinational corporation Gap Inc. It has corporate operations in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The largest of the Old Navy stores are its ...

. In March 2020, Jackson filed court papers for a restraining order against rapper

Bhad Bhabie Danielle Bregoli (born March 26, 2003), known professionally as Bhad Bhabie (, "bad baby"), is an American rapper and internet personality. She first became known from an appearance on ''Dr. Phil'' in September 2016, in which she uttered the phr ...

claiming that Bhabie had harassed her. The petition was temporarily granted, and later dropped by Jackson. On June 6, 2020, Jackson faced criticism after tweeting an image of fans

doxing Doxing or doxxing is the act of publicly providing personally identifiable information about an individual or organization, usually via the internet. Historically, the term has been used interchangeably to refer to both the aggregation of this i ...

an alleged minor over the use of a racial slur on an

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

post.

Acting career

Jackson's first major acting role was in the independent film ''

'' (2007), which was followed by a guest appearance in an episode of '' Rescue Me'' (2008). In 2009, Jackson made a cameo in the film ''

The Rebound ''The Rebound'' is a 2009 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Bart Freundlich, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Justin Bartha. It was released in theaters in several countries in late 2009. It was originally scheduled to be re ...

'', and in the same year was cast as a member of the

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

pre-school animated series ''

Bubble Guppies ''Bubble Guppies'' is a CGI-animated children's television series produced for Nickelodeon and created by Jonny Belt and Robert Scull. The series is a combination of the sketch comedy, edutainment, and musical genres, and revolves around the un ...

,'' playing the role of Little Fish. She continued to make cameo and guest appearances in the television series ''

Team Umizoomi ''Team Umizoomi'' is an American live-action and computer-animated musical children's television series with an emphasis on mathematical concepts, such as counting, sequences, shapes, patterns, measurements, and equalities. Neither imperial nor ...

'', ''

Royal Pains ''Royal Pains'' (stylized ℞oyalPains) is an American comedy-drama television series that ran on the USA Network from 2009 to 2016. The series was based in part on actual concierge medicine practices of independent doctors and companies. The ca ...

'', and ''

Boardwalk Empire ''Boardwalk Empire'' is an American period crime drama television series created by Terence Winter and broadcast on the premium cable channel HBO. The series is set chiefly in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the Prohibition era of the 1920s and ...

'', as well as the 2011 films ''

Arthur Arthur is a common male given name of Brittonic languages, Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. An ...

'' and ''

The Smurfs ''The Smurfs'' (french: Les Schtroumpfs; nl, De Smurfen) is a Belgian comic franchise centered on a fictional colony of small, blue, humanoid creatures who live in mushroom-shaped houses in the forest. ''The Smurfs'' was first created and in ...

''. In 2011, she was cast as Zuri Ross in the

sitcom '' Jessie'', which aired from September 30, 2011, to October 16, 2015. For the role, Jackson received an

Image Award The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. Similar to ...

nomination. In 2013, she appeared as Joetta Watson in the

Hallmark Channel The Hallmark Channel is an American television channel owned by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., which in turn is owned by Hallmark Cards, Inc. The channel's programming is primarily targeted at families, and features a mix of television movies and ...

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

''The Watsons Go To Birmingham'' and in the year following guest-starred in an episode of

Disney XD Disney XD is an American pay television channel owned by the Disney Branded Television and Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution units of The Walt Disney Company. The channel is aimed primarily at older children ages six to eleven years ...

's animated series ''

Ultimate Spider-Man ''Ultimate Spider-Man'' is a superhero comic book series that was published by Marvel Comics from 2000 to 2011. The series is a modernized re-imagining of Marvel's long-running Spider-Man comic book franchise as part of the company's Ultimate ...

''. In 2015, after ''Jessie'' ended, it was announced that Jackson would reprise her role as Zuri Ross in the Disney Channel series ''

'', a spin-off series. ''Bunk'd'' premiered on July 31, 2015, and she departed from the series after its third season in 2018. In 2016, Jackson was included on

's list of Most Influential Teens, and in 2017, she received a nomination from the

Shorty Awards The Shorty Awards (also known as “The Shortys”) honors the most innovative work globally in digital and social media by brands, agencies, nonprofits and creators. The Shortys’ mission is to celebrate, inspire and push the boundaries of exce ...

for Best Influencer. Following her success with Disney, Jackson promptly made a guest appearance in ''

K.C. Undercover ''K.C. Undercover'' is an American Television comedy, comedy television series created by Corinne Marshall that aired on Disney Channel from January 18, 2015 to February 2, 2018. The series stars Zendaya, Veronica Dunne, Kamil McFadden, Trinitee ...

''. In 2018, Jackson made a guest appearance in ''

: Initiation'' as Glory Grant, a role she reprised in ''Marvel Rising: Chasing Ghosts,'' and ''Marvel Rising: Battle of the Bands.'' In 2019, Jackson was cast in the music video for

Lil Nas X Montero Lamar Hill (born April 9, 1999), known by his stage name Lil Nas X ( ), is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He rose to prominence with the release of his country rap single " Old Town Road", which first achieved viral popula ...

's " Panini". The video gained worldwide popularity, and spawned a variety of memes due to her character being unable to escape the rapper. Also in 2019, Jackson made her writing debut with the book ''Reach for the Skai: How to Inspire, Empower, and Clapback'', and began voicing Summer on the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

animated series '' DreamWorks Dragons: Rescue Riders'', which ended in 2020. On September 2, 2020, Jackson was announced as one of the celebrities competing on the 29th season of ''

'', which premiered on September 14, 2020. Her partner was Alan Bersten. The pair made it the semi-finals but was eliminated 10th on November 16, 2020. In 2021, Jackson was a singing bust in ''

Muppets Haunted Mansion ''Muppets Haunted Mansion'' is a 2021 American puppet supernatural comedy Halloween special based on the Disney properties The Muppets and The Haunted Mansion. It was released on October 8, 2021, via Disney+. It is the Muppets' first Halloween s ...

''.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

Bibliography

Books

* ''Reach for the Skai: How to Inspire, Empower, and Clapback'' (2019)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Skai 2002 births 21st-century American actresses Actresses from New York City African-American actresses African-American child actresses American child actresses American film actresses American television actresses Living people Afro-Honduran 21st-century African-American women