Do You Remember the Baby Sun From ‘Teletubbies’? She Revealed How Much She Was Paid for the Role
The giggling baby sun hanging over Teletubbyland is one of the most recognizable images in 1990s children’s television. Millions of kids watched that smiling face greet Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po, yet very few knew who she was. The baby sun from ‘Teletubbies’ is now a grown woman, and her story keeps drawing fresh attention.
The original series premiered on the BBC in 1997 and ran until 2001. Jess Smith’s face appeared at the start and end of every episode, across 365 in total. She kept the role quiet for years, only going public at 19 after seeing other people falsely claim they were the baby.
Smith has long been open about her pay, and the latest round of coverage revisits the figure. She received 300 euros and a few plush toys for the part, which she landed at just 9 months old. Most UK reports from her 2014 reveal put the fee at £250 plus a box of toys.
Smith’s path to the sun was pure chance. Her mother took her to a hospital in Kent for a routine weigh-in, where a health visitor who had been asked to find smiley babies recommended her. A few auditions followed, and the producers apparently wanted to see whether she could laugh on cue and what her giggle sounded like.
Filming was a low-tech affair. Smith has said she was placed in a high chair and filmed looking down, as if she really were the sun. Index adds that her scenes were shot at a producer’s house, and that the location of the original set is now under water.
Nobody involved could have predicted what ‘Teletubbies’ would become, which helps explain the modest paycheck. Smith has said no royalties were offered, because no one knew how big the show would get. She has never presented the fee as a grievance, and she has said she is proud of her small part in a show that became a worldwide hit.
Smith has also said she thinks she was chosen simply because she was giggly. She largely stayed out of the spotlight afterward, and she told Index she barely watched the show herself. For her it is simply a part of her life she has held onto.
Smith went on to study dance education at university, and she now lives well away from television cameras. She is 31 and a mother of two, and she says motherhood is what she enjoys most. Her first child arrived in January 2024, a moment that sent nostalgic fans online into a collective “I feel old” spiral.
Her kids know about their mother’s famous cameo, and they sometimes watch the show together. She says it is especially sweet that they recognize her on screen. When they spot her, they point at the TV and shout “Mama!”
‘Teletubbies’ has never really left screens. The series returned in 2015 on the children’s channel CBeebies and ran until 2018, with a new baby sun joining the cast.
Netflix launched its own take in 2022, a 21st-century refresh with 26 episodes of 12 minutes each. The streamer brought in Tituss Burgess of ‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’ as narrator and cast 5 new babies in the sun role. Even so, the original giggle that greeted a generation remains Smith’s.
Do you think the original Teletubbies baby sun deserved more than £250 for becoming part of a global television phenomenon?
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