JJ
The details
Biography
Introduction
JD Jackson is an American audiobook narrator, actor, and theater professor. Jackson won 26 Earphone Awards and 1 Audie Award. In 2020, AudioFile named him a Golden voice Narrator and two years later Booklist named him a voice of Choice Narrator.
Biography
Jackson received a Bachelor of Arts in Drama and Speech Communications from Dillard University in 1997. In 2000, he received a Master of Fine Arts in Theater Performance from Temple University.
Awards and honors
Awards
| Year | Title | Award | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | America (2002) by E.R. Frank | Earphone Award | Winner | |
| Locomotion (2003) by Jacqueline Woodson | Earphone Award | Winner | ||
| 2009 | Just Another Hero (2009) by Sharon M. Draper | Earphone Award | Winner | |
| 2010 | Cemetery Road (2009) by Gar Anthony Haywood | Earphone Award | Winner | |
| 2011 | Ghetto Cowboy (2011) by G. Neri | Earphone Award | Winner | |
| 2012 | Ghetto Cowboy (2011) by G. Neri | Odyssey Award | Honor | |
| Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary (1993) by Walter Dean Myers | Earphone Award | Winner | ||
| What It Was (2012) by George Pelecanos | Earphone Award | Winner | ||
| 2014 | Citizens Creek (2014) by Lalita Tademy | Earphone Award | Winner | |
| Revolution (2014) by Deborah Wiles | Earphone Award | Winner | ||
| 2015 | Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad (2015) by Eric Foner | Earphone Award | Winner | |
| Revolution (2014) by Deborah Wiles | Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults | Top 10 | ||
| Revolution (2014) by Deborah Wiles | Audie Award for Distinguished Achievement in Production | Finalist | ||
| 2016 | Citizens Creek (2014) by Lalita Tademy | Audie Award for Fiction | Finalist | |
| 2017 | Bluebird, Bluebird (2017) by Attica Locke | Earphone Award | Winner | |
| Sting Like a Bee: Muhammad Ali vs. the United States of America, 1966-1971 (2017) by Leigh Montville | Earphone Award | Winner | ||
| 2018 | The Life and Times of Persimmon Wilson by Nancy Peacock | Audie Award for Fiction | Finalist | |
| 2019 | Look Both Ways (2019) by Jason Reynolds | Earphone Award | Winner | |
| Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (1967) by Martin Luther King Jr. | Audie Award for Nonfiction | Finalist | ||
| 2020 | Beowulf: A New Translation (2020) by Maria Dahvana Headley | Earphone Award | Winner | |
| A Fool's Errand: Creating the National Museum of African American History and Culture in the Age of Bush, Obama, and Trump (2019) by Lonnie G. Bunch III | Earphone Award | Winner | ||
| His Truth is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope by Jon Meacham | Earphone Award | Winner | ||
| The Nickel Boys (2019) by Colson Whitehead | Audie Award for Best Male Narrator | Finalist | ||
| The Underground Railroad Records: Narrating the Hardships, Hairbreadth Escapes, and Death Struggles of Slaves in Their Efforts for Freedom (2020) by William Still and edited by Quincy T. Mills, with introduction by Ta-Nehisi Coates | Earphone Award | Winner | ||
| 2021 | The Anatomy of Desire (2021) by L. R. Dorn | Earphone Award | Winner | |
| Black Cop's Kid: An Essay (2021) by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | Earphone Award | Winner | ||
| Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda (2021), edited by Jesse J. Holland | Earphone Award | Winner | ||
| Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019, edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain | Earphone Award | Winner | ||
| Hell of a Book (2021) by Jason Mott | Earphone Award | Winner | ||
| His Truth is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope by Jon Meacham | Audie Award for History or Biography | Winner | ||
| A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance (2020) by Hanif Abdurraqib | Earphone Award | Winner | ||
| When Ghosts Come Home (2021) by Wiley Cash | Earphone Award | Winner | ||
| When Stars Are Scattered (2020) by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed | Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults | Top 10 | ||
| When Stars Are Scattered (2020) by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed | Odyssey Award | Honor | ||
| 2022 | The Anatomy of Desire (2021) by L. R. Dorn | Audie Award for Multi-Voiced Performance | Finalist | |
| The Best American Short Stories 2021, edited by Jesmyn Ward and Heidi Pitlor | Audie Award for Short Stories or Collections | Finalist | ||
| Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019, edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain | Audie Award for Multi-Voiced Performance | Finalist | ||
| The Last Suspicious Holdout: Stories (2022) by Ladee Hubbard | Earphone Award | Winner | ||
| Listen Mama by M.S.P. Williams | Audie Award for Autobiography or Memoir | Finalist | ||
| The Weight of Blood (2022) by Tiffany D. Jackson | Earphone Award | Winner |
Honors
In 2020, AudioFile inducted Jackson into their Golden Voice Hall of Fame.
He also narrated two Pulitzer Prize-winning audiobooks, The Tradition by Jericho Brown and The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, as well as Carnegie Medal winner, A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib.
| Year | Title | Honor | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Battle of Jericho by Sharon M. Draper | Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults | |
| 2011 | Just Another Hero by Sharon Draper | AudioFile Best of Young Adult | |
| 2012 | Cemetery Road (2009) by Gar Anthony Haywood | AudioFile Best of Mystery & Suspense | |
| Ghetto Cowboy (2011) by G. Neri | Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults | ||
| Ghetto Cowboy (2011) by G. Neri | Notable Children's Recordings | ||
| What It Was (2012) by George Pelecanos | AudioFile Best of Mystery & Suspense | ||
| 2013 | Crow by Barbara Wright | AudioFile Best of Children | |
| Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary (1993) by Walter Dean Myers | AudioFile Best of Young Adult | ||
| 2014 | Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles America's First Black Paratroopers by Tanya Lee Stone | Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults | |
| Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles America's First Black Paratroopers by Tanya Lee Stone | Notable Children's Recordings | ||
| Revolution (2014) by Deborah Wiles | Booklist Editors' Choice: Audio for Youth | ||
| Revolution (2014) by Deborah Wiles | Booklist Editor's Top of the List | ||
| 2015 | Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad (2015) by Eric Foner | AudioFile Best of History | |
| The Great War: Stories Inspired by Items from the First World War by Tanya Lee Stone, Marcus Sedgwick, David Almond, Timothée de Fombelle, A.L. Kennedy, Ursula Dubosarsky, Michael Morpurgo, John Boyne, Tracy Chevalier, Sheena Wilkinson, and Adèle Geras | School Library Journal's Top 10 Audiobooks of the Year | ||
| A Nation's Hope: The Story of Boxing Legend Joe Lewis | Notable Children's Videos | ||
| The Madman of Piney Woods | Notable Children's Recordings | ||
| Revolution (2014) by Deborah Wiles | Notable Children's Recordings | ||
| 2017 | Bluebird, Bluebird (2017) by Attica Locke | AudioFile Best of Mystery & Suspense | |
| Sting Like a Bee: Muhammad Ali vs. the United States of America, 1966-1971 (2017) by Leigh Montville | AudioFile Best of Biography & History | ||
| 2019 | Heaven, My Home | AudioFile Best of Mystery & Suspense | |
| Look Both Ways (2019) by Jason Reynolds | AudioFile Best of Children & Family Listening | ||
| 2020 | A Fool's Errand: Creating the National Museum of African American History and Culture in the Age of Bush, Obama, and Trump (2019) by Lonnie G. Bunch III | AudioFile Best of Nonfiction & Culture | |
| When Stars Are Scattered (2020) by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed | Booklist Editors' Choice: Youth Audio | ||
| 2021 | The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story (2021) by Nikole Hannah-Jones | Booklist Editors' Choice: Adult Audio | |
| Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019, edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain | AudioFile Best of History & Biography | ||
| His Truth is Marching On | AudioFile Best of History & Biography | ||
| Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks (2019) by Jason Reynolds | Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults | ||
| The Trial of the Chicago 7: The Official Transcript,edited by Mark L. Levine, George C. McNamee, and Daniel Greenberg | Listen List | ||
| When Stars Are Scattered (2020) by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed | Notable Children's Recordings |
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | The Big Easy | Jasper Goodwin | 1 episode: End of the World |
| 2001 | Diary of a City Priest | Kurt | |
| 2002 | As If | Chris | 2 episodes:
|
| Third Watch | Latrell Griffith | 2 episodes:
| |
| 2003 | Hack | Skeeter D | 1 episode: Collateral Damage |
| Queens Supreme | ADA Barney Broomfield | 1 episode: Let's Make a Deal | |
| Whoopi | Security Guard #2 | 1 episode: Sticky Fingers | |
| 2005 | Law & Order | Lenny Thorne | 1 episode: Locomotion |
| 2006 | Sherrybaby | Job Trainer | Uncredited |
| Lucky Number Slevin | Mugger | ||
| 2008 | Cold Play | Detective Sparks | |
| ER | Chuck Holmes | 1 episode: Parental Guidance | |
| 2010 | House | Ronald Westbrook | 1 episode: 5 to 9 |
| 2012 | Acts the 3-Man Show | Peter | |
| 2019 | Granddaddy's Turn: A Journey to the Ballot Box | Narrator | |
| 2022 | Keeping the City Going |