Jazz Jennings facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jazz Jennings
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Jazz Jennings at the New York City Pride parade in 2016
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| Born | October 6, 2000 Florida, U.S.
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| Occupation | Student and television personality |
| Years active | c. 2006–present |
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Jazz Jennings (born October 6, 2000) is an American YouTube personality, spokesmodel, television personality, and LGBT rights activist. Jazz is known for being one of the youngest people to openly share her experience as a transgender person. She first gained national attention in 2007. This happened when she was interviewed by Barbara Walters on the TV show 20/20. This interview led to many other important TV appearances.
Jazz's parents shared that she knew she was a girl as soon as she could speak. In 2007, her parents started the TransKids Purple Rainbow Foundation. Jazz is an honorary co-founder of this group, which helps young transgender people. In 2013, she created Purple Rainbow Tails. This company makes rubber mermaid tails to raise money for transgender children. Jazz also has a series of YouTube videos about her life called "I Am Jazz." She stars in the TLC reality TV show, I Am Jazz. This show started in 2015 and shows her daily life with her family. It also shares the journey she faces as a transgender person.
Early Life and Education
Jazz Jennings was born in Florida. Her parents are Greg and Jeanette. She has an older sister named Ari. She also has older twin brothers, Sander and Griffen. Her family is Jewish. Jeanette, her mother, explained that "Jennings" is not their real last name. They use it to make life easier and keep their real, longer Jewish last name private.
Jazz was identified as male when she was born. By age four, doctors said she had gender dysphoria. This means she felt that her gender identity was different from the one she was given at birth. Jazz made it clear she was female as soon as she could talk. Even though her family dressed her in clothes that could be for boys or girls, she wanted to wear feminine clothes.
As a child, Jazz went to Camp Aranu'tiq. This was the first sleepaway camp especially for transgender children. She finished high school at Broward Virtual School in 2019. She was the best student in her class. Jazz was accepted to Harvard University, but she decided to wait a year before starting.
Career and Activism
When Jazz was six years old, she and her family started appearing on TV. They talked about what it was like for her to grow up as a transgender child. Her story was shown on national TV shows like 20/20 and The Rosie Show. On The Rosie Show, she appeared with Chaz Bono.
In 2007, Jazz's parents started the TransKids Purple Rainbow Foundation. This group helps young transgender people. Jazz is an honorary co-founder of this organization.
In 2011, a documentary about her life and family was released. It was called I Am Jazz: A Family in Transition. It first showed on the Oprah Winfrey Network.
In 2013, Jazz started Purple Rainbow Tails. This company makes rubber mermaid tails. She sells them to raise money for transgender children. That same year, she had another interview with Barbara Walters on 20/20. They talked about Jazz's two-and-a-half-year effort to play soccer on girls' teams. The United States Soccer Federation (USSF) had rules against it. With help from the National Center for Lesbian Rights, she succeeded. The USSF changed its rules to let transgender students play.
Jazz helped write a children's book in 2014 called I Am Jazz. She wrote it with Jessica Herthel. The book tells her story as a transgender child.
In 2014, Jazz was a guest at the GLAAD Media Awards. She shared the stage with Zach Wahls and Lauren Foster. That year, Time magazine named her one of "The 25 Most Influential Teens of 2014." She was also the youngest person ever on Out magazine's "Out 100" list. She was also on Advocate magazine's "40 Under 40" list. Jazz was also named to OUT magazine's 2014 Trans 100 list. She became a Human Rights Campaign Youth Ambassador. She also received LogoTV's 2014 Youth Trailblazer Award.
In March 2015, Johnson & Johnson announced that Jazz would appear in Clean & Clear commercials. Jazz became a spokesmodel for Clean & Clear's "See The Real Me" campaign. She shared her experiences growing up as a transgender person. She also modeled for the NOH8 Campaign. She also wrote an article for Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People List. She wrote about Laverne Cox.
The daily life of Jazz and her family is shown in the TLC reality series I Am Jazz. It first aired in July 2015. The seventh season began on November 30, 2021. In 2016, Jazz published a book about her life. It was called Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen.
In 2017, Robert Tonner and the Tonner Doll Company announced they would make a doll based on Jazz. It was planned to be the first doll marketed as transgender. That same year, Jazz voiced a teenage transgender character named Zadie. This was in the season finale of the Amazon Video animated series Danger & Eggs. Zadie sings about acceptance. She helps the main characters understand what a chosen family means. Jazz said this experience was "groundbreaking." She was proud to be part of the show. Especially because the episode took place at "a Pride event." She said it made the role important and special.
In 2018, it was announced that Jazz would star in a short film called Denim. It would be about a transgender teen named Micayla. It would show what happens after a photo of her in the girls' bathroom goes viral. The film was released on Amazon Prime Video on July 20, 2019. In 2019, Jazz made a guest appearance on the ABC program, What Would You Do? Jazz also voiced the character Lily the Fairy in 2019. This was for the episode "Cedric & the Fairies" of The Bravest Knight, an animated series.
Personal Life
In 2013, Jazz publicly shared her wish to become a mother in the future. In 2018, Jazz had gender confirmation surgery. This surgery was successful.
See also
In Spanish: Jazz Jennings para niños
