Justice Smith

Justice Smith is a queer Black actor who came out publicly in June 2020, in a post that connected his queer identity to the Black Lives Matter movement: "As a Black queer man myself, I am disappointed to see certain people eager to say Black Lives Matter, but hold their tongues when Trans/Queer was added." The statement was both a coming-out and a political act — a refusal to separate Black liberation from queer liberation, and an insistence on the full visibility of Black queer people. Smith has since spoken about his queerness in multiple interviews, including about the specific experience of being a queer man of color navigating Hollywood. He is known for starring as the young trainer in "Detective Pikachu" (2019), Simon in "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" (2023), and for his acclaimed performance in A24's "I Saw the TV Glow" (2024), a queerly coded horror film about identity, repression, and the terror of an unlived life. He also appeared in "The Get Down" (2016) and "Paper Towns" (2015). Smith has spoken about "I Saw the TV Glow" as personally resonant and about the importance of queer horror as a genre that speaks to the experience of psychological self-erasure.