'The Teletubbies': what does the 'baby sun' look like today? - People - Culture

If you lived your childhood between the end of the 90s and the beginning of the 2000s, surely you had a lot of fun watching ‘The Teletubbies’a children’s program broadcast by the British news network ‘BBC’ and which crossed borders, as it was even seen in Latin America.

You must also remember the baby-faced sun that illuminated all the chapters. The character that you saw there, currently, is a 26-year-old woman and you will be surprised to see how she looks today.

‘The Teletubbies’ brought joy to children’s homes between 1997 and 2000, when the program was broadcast daily. Although many years have passed, viewers still remember this series fondly and nostalgically.

A great team worked on this production to give the voices to the characters: Simon Shelton gave life to ‘Tinky-Winky’, the oldest and tallest teletubbie; Jon Simmit played the stubborn and sarcastic ‘Dipsy’; Nikky Smedley voiced the delicate and refined ‘Laa Laa’; and Pui Fan Lea brought to life the clumsiest and smallest ‘Po’.

In each chapter, the ‘Teletubbies’ cooked, danced, ran, sang and went out to play in the meadow under the rays of the radiant sun with baby faces. But do you know who was the interpreter of this curious figure?

Who was the baby sun?

In real life, the little one who shone in the program was the British Jessica Smith and, at that time, she was only one year old. Currently, she is 25 years old and studies dance at the University of Canterbury, in New Zealand.

According to the Spanish media ‘La Vanguardia’, Smith, who was born in 1995, was in a hospital when the producers of ‘The Teletubbies’ found her and were captivated by her radiant and innocent smile.

When they saw her, they decided to put a mirror and a camera in front of her, while the little girl’s father -Bill Smith- entertained her with some toy cars. At that moment, they realized that she was the one for the role of ‘Baby Sun’.

(Keep reading: ‘I found the right woman and I almost left her for being a priest’).

Through their social networks, The young woman admitted that she was embarrassed to say that she was the baby of ‘The Teletubbies’, so she did not comment on it with anyone. However, in 2014 – when she was 19 years old – she revealed to her followers his past as a television superstar.

“I hid for a long time, but my classmates and friends from university encouraged me to tell. I have gained a lot of confidence and I can now reveal it: I am the sun of the ‘Teletubbies’”, wrote the teenager.

Additionally, on her Facebook account, the young woman reported that at first she had told her secret to her college friends for a game, but she did not want anyone else to find out. However, they convinced her to reveal the news of her publicly and she did.

During years, an American actress who is also called Jessica Smith was believed to be the little ‘Baby Sun’, but it was false: “I’m not sure why the actress claims to be the face or why people think she is. She would have been 10 years old at the time of filming, and she doesn’t even look like the baby.”

In order to verify that her confession was real, the British published on Facebook a document that they sent to her parents in 1996, in which they were informed that she had been selected for the role.

(Don’t stop reading: Luisito Comunica said that he felt discriminated against in South Korea).

The image soon went viral and thousands of users, amazed to see the change in little ‘Baby Sun’, shared the publication with a message of nostalgia: “We are old.”

Yes. Jessica Smith was the original Sun Baby from Teletubbies. No offense to her, but what’s the point of Teletubbies?? pic.twitter.com/9sX1FMVxqU

— Daniel Dell (I’m fine with late birthday gifts) (@DanielDell1997) April 5, 2021

Has a daughter?

Recently, Smith had sparked a great controversy on social networks, since he uploaded a photo hugging a baby. Given this, Greg James, a presenter of the ‘BBC’, disclosed the photo assuring that the young woman was already a mother: “the sun of the teletubbies already has a son”.

Many Internet users shared the publication and several memes were created around it. Nevertheless, The official Twitter account of ‘The Teletubbies’ posted a trill clarifying that the baby was not Smith’s daughter.

In reality, the little girl’s name is Berry and she is from London, England, and was selected to play ‘Baby Sun’ in a new edition of ‘The Teletubbies’: “She is the ‘baby sun’ Jess Smith, with our new ‘baby sun’, Berry! Seeing Jess so big also makes us feel old.”

Additionally, Smith gave his opinion on the new ‘Baby Sun’ in interviews with local media: “Many babies smile, but Berry is a unique smiley, which we know will make the audience smile too.”