Jurnee Smollett

All Is VANITIES ... Nothing Is Fair

JANUARY

VANITIES

2008

2L New~~~b~with lots of in A. as a member of a peripatetic acting family. Samantha, a star of the Wiley (Teii~as) College debate team in Denzel Washington's The Great Debaters, out on Christmas Day. The film is based on the true story of Wiley's 1935 team, an unheralded crew from a small black school that, guided by a remarkable poet and English professor named Mel bison, challenged Harvard for the national championship. (Washington not only directs but also plays Toison.) "My character is based on a woman named Henrietta Wells, who's still alive at 95," says Smollett. "I spent time with her, stayed in her house in Houston. She made me breakfast in the morning. I sang in her church.N half a lile4jne ago, th.,~ II1~Iu~1 jj. -r r'~j~U'~ ..~Th

KRISTA SMITH