Jonica “Jojo” T. Gibbs

Biography

Jonica “Jojo” T. Gibbs is an American actress and comedian. She plays the lead role of Hattie in the BET series Twenties.

Gibbs was born in South Carolina and raised by her great-grandparents in Hampstead, North Carolina. She received her bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Gibbs felt discouraged from pursuing journalism after negative experiences with faculty members in the department. After graduation, she moved around and worked several jobs, including substitute teaching, and acted in student films at SCAD.

Gibbs moved to Los Angeles in 2015 to pursue acting professionally, a year after she began stand-up comedy. She and her close friend Rashonda Joplin started a production company and developed the web series No More Comics in L.A. They shot and financed two episodes and created a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for the remaining eight episodes. They reached out to a number of Black television creatives to market the campaign, including Lena Waithe.

Gibbs is openly gay. She came out to her mother (the first time) at 19 after watching True Life: I’m Coming Out.