Crissa Jackson is a 36-year-old basketball player, model, actress, comedian, content creator, and LGBTQ+ advocate born in La Mesa, California and raised in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. She is one of the more accomplished people ever to appear on “The Circle” — which, considering this cast includes a PhD therapist and an MIT grad, tells you everything.
Crissa first knew she wanted to be a professional basketball player at age 7. She opted out of middle school mall trips to train year-round and spent years perfecting her own version of Allen Iverson‘s crossover dribble.
Her training was at the IMG Basketball Academy in Florida, and she played at Savannah State University and Point Loma Nazarene University. She also worked as a personal trainer after graduation. And then, when her mentor pushed her to actually try, she nailed a tryout and became the 13th woman ever to play for the Harlem Globetrotters.
Crissa has been married to her wife Alexis since December 18, 2017. The two live together in New York City with Alexis’s daughter Olive, now a teenager.
‘The Circle’ Season 4
Crissa entered The Circle as herself, describing her game plan with the clarity of someone who has spent decades reading a basketball court: “I know where the players are cutting, who’s behind me, who’s in front of me.”
She wanted to play as herself because that is who she actually understands. “Super genuine, sweet, everybody’s sister from another mister. I’m a lesbian. I’m a female athlete. I’m a mom. I’m a wife. So I’m able to relate to so many different people.”
The strategy worked until it worked too well. Crissa formed strong early alliances, was warm and consistent in her individual messages, but held back in group chats — a restraint that read as suspicious rather than strategic to the other players.
Because she wasn’t as forthcoming in the Circle Chats as she was in private conversations, she was eventually considered a threat and blocked.
She didn’t make the finale.
Frank Grimsley — her Season 4 castmate and fellow history-maker, as the show’s first LGBTQ+ winner — did. The symmetry isn’t lost on anyone paying attention.
The Career Beyond Basketball
Crissa has been nominated for the GLAAD Media Award for Queer Advocate of the Year — a recognition that reflects years of visible advocacy work rather than a single season of television.
She owns a women’s rights nonprofit organization and has been an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, human rights, and animal welfare throughout her public career.
Beyond basketball, she has built a career as a model, actress, and comedian, with a personal website at crissajackson.com and active presences on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat.
Her content centers on basketball trick shots, fitness, comedy, and family life in New York City. She has millions of followers on TikTok — a following she had built before “The Circle” and didn’t fully disclose to her cast-mates, which was one of her few strategic plays of the season.
Where She Is Now
Crissa is based in New York City with Alexis and Olive, still creating content and still playing basketball in whatever form the sport takes her.
Her website documents a career that spans athlete, model, actor, comedian, and advocate — a list that sounds like a punchline until you look at the receipts.
She is one of those “Circle” cast members whose life story is more impressive than anything the show could frame around it. The Harlem Globetrotters credit alone is something most athletes spend their entire careers chasing. Crissa got it, left it, and kept building something bigger.
“The Circle” Seasons 1 through 7 are streaming now on Netflix.
Read next:
- Where Is Frank Grimsley From ‘The Circle’ Season 4 Now?
- Where Is Daniel Cusimano From ‘The Circle’ Season 3 Now?
- Where Is Kai Ghost From ‘The Circle’ Season 3 Now?
- Who Is Chloe Veitch? Her Netflix Career & Where She Is Now
- Where Is Deleesa Carrasquillo (Trevor) From The Circle Season 2 Now?
- Where Is Joey Sasso From ‘The Circle’ Now?
- Who Is Shubham “Shooby” Goel? ‘The Circle’ Star’s Career & Netflix Shows — Where He Is Now
For more “The Circle,” click here.
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