Jada Pinkett Smith Recalls Joining A Different World in Season 5 and Having to ‘Earn Your Stripes’ with Longtime Stars

Jada Pinkett Smith is revisiting Lena James.

The actress, 53, sat down for a chat on the Dec. 3 episode of the podcast Legacy Talk with Lena Waithe, looking back at highlights of her decades on the big and small screens.

Smith recalled her entry into A Different World as Lena James ahead of season 5. The Cosby Show spinoff focused on Denise Huxtable (Lisa Bonet) in her sophomore year at Hillman College — a predominantly Black institution.

Smith joined the cast midway through the show, when the actors and actresses playing longtime recurring characters had already bonded.

“There was already this deep camaraderie, you know what I mean? With Kadeem [Hardison] and Jasmine [Guy] and Cree [Summer] and the whole cast,” she said.

She continued, “We’re the new blood, so they were kind of like, ‘All right, whatever.’ Not in a funky way, but definitely like, ‘Earn your stripes.’ ”

Smith recalled her first day filming on set. Because she had never really seen herself as a “comedic actress,” she was anxious.

“Earn your stripes. Be funny. You got to earn your place,” she said of the energy on set. “You got a live audience and so it wasn’t no play-play. Everybody had to hold their own.”

Lena James — Smith’s character — was a Hillman student who, at the end of the show, had just finished her sophomore year.

Her character’s identity was impacted heavily by Smith’s own personality and the way the show was filmed, the actress said.

“I did an extreme version of Jada,” Smith explained of Lena’s disposition. “Four-camera sitcom, you gotta catch the rhythm. You gotta catch the rhythm of your cast members — versus when you’re doing one-camera drama, that’s a different game.”

There wasn’t any specific moment while filming that Smith knew her portrayal of Lena was clicking for the audience. She knew what she was doing was working when the longtime cast members — specifically Guy, Hardison and Summer — started embracing her.

Waithe noted that Smith’s journey on A Different World mirrored her character’s journey in the plot.

“I just remember how the older cast was now starting to relate to me,” she said, adding, “That’s when I knew — I was like, ‘Okay, I’m good.’ “