The identity of the giggling Sun Baby from the Teletubbies was a mystery for years, but
that little cutie is all grown up now, and she's ready for her own moment in the sun.
Here's what the Sun Baby looks like and is up to today.
A little girl by the name of Jess Smith got her chance to audition for the part of the
Teletubbies' Sun Baby by simply being in the right place at the right time. The company
behind the show, Ragdoll Productions, had tasked a health visitor to keep an eye out
for smiley babies while on rounds at Edenbridge Hospital in England's Kent County. When new
mother Anji Smith turned up for an appointment with her baby Jess, the child's huge grin
got her noticed right away. In 2007, Jess told BBC South East,
"I was being weighed at the hospital, my mum took me and it just happened to be the same
time that the producer of the old series had come in and wanted the hospital to get in
contact with them if they'd seen any smiley babies."
She added,
"It was just a case of sitting in front of a mirror and a camera and my dad playing with
toys and race cars and that sort of thing to try and get me to laugh at the camera."
Considering that her face was used in a total of 365 episodes of Teletubbies, you might
imagine that Jess Smith and her family were handsomely compensated. But unfortunately,
neither Ragdoll Productions, nor the BBC, nor the Smith family had any idea the show
would become such a monstrous hit, and the fee that changed hands reflects that.
The Smiths were paid just 250 pounds, which was equal to about $350 at the time, and they
were also given a box of toys. But they were more than happy with the arrangement and have
no regrets. In 2014, Anji Smith told Kent Online,
"It was just something a bit different to do and we didn't expect it to be as big as
it was."
Jess Smith doesn't harbor any ill will either towards the producers over the lack of residual
cash, even though the show airs in reruns all over the world. As she put it when her
identity was revealed,
"I am sure I loved the box of toys. No one knew how big the show was going to be so we
didn't get offered royalties."
Jess Smith waited until she was in college to announce her showbiz secret to the world.
In 2014, she took to Facebook to make the big reveal, as she shared,
"At uni we had to tell the person sitting next to us something about ourselves so I
thought I would say it. Then people from uni convinced me to tell everyone and they encouraged
me through it all...I thought I may as well tell them as I'm going to be spending the
next three years with them."
When she took to social media to share the secret with the rest of the world, she wrote,
"So I've recently celebrated my 19th birthday and after a lot of thought, I've decided it's
time to tell everyone. I used to hide it but after a lot of encouragement from my friends
at university, I've gained the confidence to come out with it. I am the sun from Teletubbies."
Convincing people that she was telling the truth was simple, as she asked them to just
search for a picture of the Sun Baby online. As she explained,
"Everyone says they can see the likeness between my face now and me as a baby. I still have
a baby face. I haven't changed much either. I am still giggly."
"I can still see that lovely little baby in your face. You've got a beautiful, beautiful
smile."
According to Jess Smith, her family is proud of her for contributing to a show that became
a global phenomenon. As she wrote on Facebook,
"My family will all remember it forever. My nan has articles about me when I was a baby
all over her wall."
As she was growing up, some people reportedly tried to convince her parents to steer her
toward modeling. As Smith revealed,
"People told my mum that I should have gone into modeling but she thought it wasn't the
right move to make as I was quite shy."
So with a modeling career off the table, she decided instead to pursue something in the
performing arts. According to her Twitter bio, she's currently studying dance education
at Canterbury Christ Church University. In March 2017, she posted a snapshot of herself
hard at work on an assignment, giving her followers a glimpse at what attending one
of her future dance lessons would be like. As her professor wrote on the assignment,
"I will always have extra games and activities planned in case the pupils work quickly and
are well behaved. I expect myself to have a lesson that flows and makes sense for the
pupils."
It sounds like she was in good hands with that teacher!
"Now I've finished at university, just finishing my last few months and then hopefully just
going on to teaching dance at primary schools."
It wouldn't be right to celebrate 20 years of Teletubbies without the involvement of
the original Sun Baby. So with that in mind, Jess Smith found herself in high demand in
2017. She was interviewed on the British morning show Lorraine, and she also stopped by BBC's
The One Show.
On the latter program, guest Holly Willoughby was asked to pick the Sun Baby out from the
crowd. It didn't go quite so well, as she ended up guessing a man standing two rows
behind Jess Smith. Maybe she would've had better luck if she'd been able to consult
Google beforehand. Meanwhile, Smith also took to Twitter around that time to share photos
from a Teletubbies anniversary event and to share the message,
"Had a lovely time at #Teletubbies20 celebration yesterday. Can't wait to see the new episodes."
"Teletubbies, say goodbye."
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