Jesse “JUSTICE” Smith
Actor, Model, Martial Arts Expert, World Wide Performer

Justice Jessie Smith has been in Hollywood for many years, but it was his role as the biggest American Gladiator on the hit NBC Show American Gladiators, standing at 6’8 and weighing almost 300 lbs with 22 inch biceps followed by a world wide Tina Turner Tour, that got him global attention.

Personal History

Born in Detroit, MI to a military household, (his father was a Sergeant Major in the Army), Justice was raised in Columbia, SC from the age of 1 until he was around 8 years old when his father was transferred to Germany. Justice in Germany until he was in the 10th grade and then relocated back with is family to attend high school and play basketball in South Carolina. However at the age of 10 Justice’s life would change forever… He saw the movie Conan the Barbarian and the mammoth physic of its star Arnold Schwarzenegger. That was it; Justice had never seen anything like it before! He was hooked, he asked his mother for weights for Christmas.

His first set of weights was a curling bar and he soon had bigger arms than his whole body! During his last two years of high school in the States, Justice became one of the nation top rated centers in the sport. During his senior year, he was one of the most recruited high school basketball players in the State, he head to take prop 48 (which means, you don’t have the SAT scores, but you are a good player so colleges are willing to take a chance on you).

Tragedy Strikes Justice

Now it was just a matter of what top college he wanted to attend, when tragedy struck him in a way that he would have never imagined. the summer after his junior year, he remembers playing a pick up game of basketball with his cousins, when out of the blue, some kid around his age just punched him for no reason. Well considering the size of Justice it didn’t take much for him to pummel him to the ground.

However, the angered adolescent ran home to get reinforcements and having a gut feeling of danger, Justice and his cousin Rodney and the others they were with left. A year had gone by and the guys were playing pool at a local pool hall when the same kid spotted Justice and walked up to him and threatened his life. Justice, who has completely forgotten about the incident and the kid, had no idea who or what the guy was talking about. Sensing danger again he and his cousins left.

It was on their way to the car that this kid came around the corner and fired two shots in the air and said the next shot was for Justice. His cousin Rodney, without any fear for his own life grabbed the guy’s arm and wrestled with him, the gun went off and Justice and his other cousins watched Rodney die as they waited for the ambulance. Needless to say, he was shell shocked; he couldn’t focus on his budding basketball career or anything else.

After that, he decided to stay close to home and go to junior college and try to get his head on straight again. It was during this time that Justice dedicated everything he does in life to the memory of his brave cousin Rodney. He began to thrive again and was heavily recruited to play b-ball out of junior college. Justice decided to attend Alcorn State University where he majored in Agriculture Animal science /Pre.Vittrynerry MD.

Overseas Basketball and Modeling Years

He went for awhile and was then recruited to play basketball overseas, so he headed to live the next chapter of his life in Switzerland in 1996. It was during this time that he was signed on to be a model at one of the top agencies there, 7 Modeling. He began to book commercials and print ads and landed a coveted campaign for Adidas, which had him appearing in print ads and billboards all over Europe. After a few years in Switzerland, Justice decided that he wanted to come back to the States and pursue acting.

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