Meet JALILA BELL

dancer choreographer director producer filmmaker

Shaping Culture Though Artistry

Welcome to @jalilabellofficial

JALILA BELL is a multidisciplinary artist whose work moves fluidly across mediums as part of an integrated creative practice. She uses movement, image, narrative, and advocacy to examine the complexities of identity, power, memory, and human connection.

Rooted in decades of experience as a performer, choreographer, filmmaker, educator, and creative producer, Jalila creates work that invites audiences to look beyond convention and to engage more deeply with one another and the world around them. Her practice is driven by the belief that art is a catalyst for transformation, capable of challenging dominant narratives, preserving cultural memory, and expanding our collective imagination.

Whether developing films, choreographing performances, creating visual art, or building spaces for collaboration, Jalila’s work is united by a commitment to curiosity, craft, and the enduring power of creative expression to move culture forward.

Work with Jalila

On the highway of life, I have never believed in staying in one lane. My work moves between performance, filmmaking, choreography, producing, writing, and the law, because each discipline strengthens the others. Performance is one expression of a multidisciplinary creative practice. Trained in modern dance at Mills College and shaped by decades of performance on stages across the United States and abroad, I see performance not as a separate career, but as another way of solving creative problems. Movement taught me to think physically, listen deeply, and communicate beyond language. Whether on the page, the stage, behind the camera, or in the courtroom, I bring the same curiosity, rigor, and commitment to storytelling and world-building. Performance remains an essential instrument in my creative toolkit, one more way to bring complex, deeply human stories to life.

THREE YEARS LATER:

FOUR EPISODES, FOUR ROLES, AND AN EDUCATION IN TELEVISION ACTING 🎬

As I update my acting calendar for Fall/Winter 2026, I've been looking back at some of the work that helped educate me as an actor for the camera.

Almost three years ago, I appeared as a paid actor in four Season 2 episodes of Court TV's Someone They Knew with Tamron Hall.

If you know me, you know how much I love a procedural. Legal procedurals, police procedurals, crime dramas—the investigation, the structure, the gradual revelation of what happened and why. I love a good Perry Mason and St. Olivia Benson set. So there was something particularly satisfying about getting to work as talent inside a television form I'd spent so much time watching and studying.

The work taught me. Working actors build careers by working.

Reenactment requires specificity. You're helping tell a story that actually happened, often without the luxury of pages of dialogue or extensive character development. The camera catches everything. A look, a reaction, a physical choice has to do its job, and quickly. You learn to arrive prepared, listen, adjust, find the moment, hit the mark, maintain continuity, and give production what it needs.

Over the course of Season 2, I had four opportunities to do that:

🎬 Student Body — I played the mother of murder victim Shelton Sanders.

🎬 Deadly D.I.Y. — I played murder victim Lisa Yancey.

🎬 Mirror Image — I played the mother of murder victim Dennis Lewis.

🎬 Murder and Missing — I played murder victim / alleged murderer Ruby Joyner.

I recently went back and tallied the current numbers myself, and those four episodes featuring my work have accumulated more than 1.6 million combined views on Court TV's YouTube channel. I think that reach is impressive—a digital butterfly's wing, even. But I'm even more appreciative of the education. Every set teaches you something. Every director asks something different of you. Every character expands the instrument. Every day in front of a camera makes the camera a little less mysterious.

Three years later, I look back and see four jobs, four women, four lives lost but not forgotten—and four opportunities to become a better screen actor.

And I have my one life to keep creating art in every way that I can.

JALILA BELL
Actor • Dancer • Filmmaker

Fall/Winter 2026 — Available for television, film and commercial work.

📧 jalilaabell@gmail.com

#JalilaBell #WorkingActor #Actor #CourtTV #SomeoneTheyKnew #TamronHall #TelevisionActor #Procedural #ActingForCamera #OnCamera #Casting #KAJECreative

Murder and Missing: Someone They Knew with Tamron Hall - COURT TV

Shaping the Next Generation of Artists

Dance Adjudication, Education & Creative Mentorship

HIRE AN EXPERT

As a national dance adjudicator with Inferno Dance, Jalila brings a powerful blend of artistic expertise, clarity, and compassion to her work with dancers across the country. She offers constructive guidance rooted in her background as a dancer, performer, choreographer, director, and storyteller.

Services may include:

Competition adjudication

Feedback sessions (virtual or in-person)

Choreographic consulting

Creative development for studios & dancers

Request Feedback or Booking

FILM WORLD - films by JALILA BELL

FILM PRODUCTION & CREATIVE DIRECTION

Jalila is the Director and Managing Producer of Culture Connects Us, an arthouse documentary celebrating community, culture, and connection. 

15 Official Selections | 
29% Festival Selection Rate — exceptionally strong for a micro-budget cultural documentary

The film continues to outperform industry averages with multiple wins, two Silver Awards, a Jury Award, and several Honorable Mentions across international and U.S. festivals.

Jalila is currently developing Thirst Trap Massacre (with Zarina Crockett and Silas Indigo LeFevře), and Surveil Grace, a dance feature film. 

Culture Connects Us

Surveil Grace A Film by Jalila Bell - In Development

Shop original prints, textiles, and accessories based on Jalila's mixed-media works — including the Pork Talk, I woven blanket, apparel, bags, pillows, and more.

Her Eyes On Cuba

Her Eyes on Cuba: a meditation on the sixth limb of yoga

The first published book

By Jalila Bell (@TroubleEsquire)

In a moment when Cuba is facing one of the deepest fuel and humanitarian crises in decades, driven in part by tightened U.S. sanctions and restrictions on oil imports that have exacerbated blackouts, transport collapse, and shortages of food, medicine, and essential services, Her Eyes on Cuba offers a deeply human counterpoint to headlines.

This intimate photographic essay uses image, movement, and presence to slow us down and reconnect us to Cuban people’s resilience, culture, and everyday life, reminding us that art and empathy endure even amid geopolitical pressure.

Published as an 80-page miniature coffee table book (5×5 in), Her Eyes on Cuba captures not just place but lived experience, memory, and the beauty that persists in community and ritual.

Available in softcover (US $39.60) and instant PDF (US $9.99) formats, viewable on any device.
Sign up for email and texts to unlock 30% off your first order.

A portion of proceeds from every sale will be donated to organizations supporting Cuban families affected by the current crisis and to advocacy groups working for human rights, food security, cultural preservation, and equitable international policy.

In Solidarity.
Click below to explore the book and purchase your copy.

PURCHASE YOUR COPY

AVW: Audio Visual Wellness - Afronaut Media FLASHBACK

FLASHBACK | AVW 2023–2024 — Kitsch & KIN

What will you bring to the table?

Looking back at my work with Afronaut Media and AVW (Audio Visual Wellness) in 2023 and 2024, Kitsch & KIN remains one of my favorite experiments in what can happen when an audience is invited not simply to witness art—but to become part of its making.

Conceived and produced by Jalila Bell, Kitsch & KIN was an interactive installation and audience-participation experience exploring memory, attachment, release, and collective creation.

The project grew out of my first collage-art collection, MYE{Ph}emera, and a simple question:

What will you bring to the table?

For AVW Berkeley, I expanded the intimate practice behind MYE{Ph}emera into a communal creative experiment. Afronaut Media supporters and AVW participants were invited to arrive carrying something small: a piece of kitsch, memorabilia, ephemera, or some other tiny possession carrying a memory, association, history, or meaning.

Then came the harder invitation:

Let it go.

Objects that had once belonged to separate people and separate lives were gathered at the table and transformed through a cathartic process of creative up-cycling. Individual fragments became collective material—incorporated into a singular, evolving work of Afro-futurist collage art created for the AVW experience.

Kitsch & KIN was part installation, part thought experiment, part ritual of release.

What happens when something personally treasured leaves our possession but not our history? What new meaning can an object acquire when it becomes part of somebody else's story—or a story made collectively?

The finished work became an artifact of the people who gathered around it: strangers, collaborators, artists, supporters, and community members literally contributing pieces of their lives to something none of us could have created alone.

That was the experiment.

That was Kitsch & KIN.

Concept, Creative Direction & Production: Jalila Bell
Presented with Afronaut Media as part of AVW — Audio Visual Wellness | 2023–2024

STEAMPUNK ART SERIES

Introducing "Belly of the Beast" -Reflections from the First Gallery Installation by Multi-Disciplinary Artist Jalila Bell a/k/a @TroubleEsquire

From the Artist: 

I was thrilled to present my debut art collection, "Belly of the Beast" at the Chocolate and Art Show in June 2024. This event was a remarkable opportunity to immerse myself in San Francisco's vibrant art scene, alongside the city's finest up-and-coming artists, photographers, and creators.

Why "Belly of the Beast" is a Must-See

Belly of the Beast is a dynamic exhibition that challenges dominant cultural narratives and engages audiences through intricate, textural storytelling. This collection is a testament to my commitment to artistic innovation, social commentary, and the power of mixed-media collage to provoke dialogue.

Each piece in the series incorporates a rich interplay of materials—including acrylic, photographs, leather, found objects, and paper elements—layered to explore themes of identity, resilience, and community. The collection has resonated deeply with viewers, eliciting responses such as "colorful and mesmerizing," "vibrant and thoughtful," and "so much creativity."

Every work is available for acquisition, accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity, marking it as an official Belly of the Beast original. More than an exhibition, this body of work fosters reflection and discourse, making it a compelling addition to both private and institutional collections.

WHO ALL GON BE THERE?

I am actively seeking investors, collectors, agents, and collaborators ready to elevate bold, culture-shifting art. This is your opportunity to be part of something groundbreaking—whether through acquisition, representation, or strategic partnership. My work is already sparking conversations and commanding attention, and with the right team, we can expand its impact even further.

Let’s set up a meeting to explore how we can collaborate and push artistic boundaries while creating lasting value.

For inquiries and appointments, contact KAJE today. Let’s make something extraordinary happen. mailto:jalilaabell@gmail.com

Belly of the Beast Collection