Jessica Banks: Hollywood's Next Multi-Hyphenate Star on the Rise

Born on February 18, 1986, Jessica Banks is well on her way to being identified as one of the most promising multi-hyphenate talents in Hollywood. This actress, director, screenwriter, and DJ is forging her way into the ever-competitive entertainment industry while she carves a niche for creative versatility and an ease with which she segues between roles in front of and behind the screen.

Born in Queens, NY, Banks developed a love for the arts early. Her interest in acting wasn't first evoked until she had taken a high school course in play production, which led her to her first performance in West Side Story. Her early foray into the world of theater would later give way to her first big break—a commercial for Gap Kids in 2005. It would be the first of many as Banks started racking up credits in popular television shows like Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Pose, and Power. She finally gained her breakthrough with the hit series The Last O.G. where she played Thelma Pruvis in the ninth episode of season one entitled "Paid in Full."

Not contented to just act, Banks' creative insight branched out behind the camera as she tried her hand at directing and screenwriting. In 2021, she did a film in which she could write, star in, and direct her first movie, When the Tables Turn—a project which showed she was quite capable of juggling many of the facets concerning film production. The film received good reviews thus marking a point in her career where she had more firmly established her name in Hollywood.

Besides her film career, Banks has had an abiding interest in music, the result of being exposed to it by her father. At age 12 she started deejaying like her father and by age 15 years old, Banks released a mix tape. Early involvement with the world of music developed not only her creative outlook but gave yet another dimension to her skillset. The combination of music and film created an aspect of Banks' identity that truly makes her presence in the industry unique.

She moved further with the motion with her production company Davis Banks Production, which was a combined name from her parents. The production company has been responsible for the production of such films as a sequel to When the Tables Turn—Diabolically titled When the Tables Turn: Reservation for 2—set for release late 2023. Along with that, a new project in association with Grammy Award-winning producer Carter Brown entitled Deceitful Misery: Queens, Money, Love & Music is also underway. That is an ambitious slate of projects that very well could further raise Banks' standing in the entertainment world.

Though she is still in the infancy of her career, Banks' work ethic—a derivative of her innate talent and maneuvering of the different components of the entertainment industry—put her firmly in place as one of the new young starlets to watch. In response to her skyrocketing filmography—both in television and film projects—Banks is well on her way to becoming that household name: the modern-day Hollywood multi-hyphenate.

Wherever new ground is being broken, as ever, Jessica Banks stays both a bright young talent in front of and a force behind the camera, ready for whatever the next challenge will push the boundaries of her craft.