The Good Place starred Jamleela Jamil alongside Kristen Bell, Ted Danson, William Jackson Harper and Manny Jacinto.
Jameela Jamil was a presenter on The BBC Radio 1 Chart Show. (Photo Credit: X)
Jameela Jamil is known for her roles in The Good Place and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. But did you know acting was never part of her original plan? There was a time when she had no intention of returning to television at all. During an appearance on David Tennant Does a Podcast With…, Jamil opened up about her unexpected career shift.
She had been a presenter on The BBC Radio 1 Chart Show but quit in 2015. “I just didn’t want to be on TV anymore ever again, and I wanted to be a writer and a DJ, and so I just f****d off,” she said. After quitting, Jamil joined her then-musician-boyfriend on tour.
“And then I ran out of money and so I said, ‘Please can I have a job, any job, I will do anything.’ I was so desperate for money at that point. I had $17 left in my bank account. I was real keen,” she added.
In search of any work, Jamil “was handed a bunch of auditions” including one for a Las Vegas magic show and another for The Good Place.
Jamil admitted she initially resisted auditioning for the NBC sitcom because she had “never acted before and just thought that was a sacrilege.”
Jamil and Tennant discussed how uncommon such a drastic career shift is. “It’s like, ‘Stay in your lane,’ and the reason I left is partially because I wanted to be able to write,” she explained.
She mentioned that her opportunity came because of a script she had pitched which led executives to encourage her.
“They were the ones who said, “You’ll have more power as a writer if you have a name for yourself, or you can just meet him and maybe he’ll put you in the writer’s room’,” Jamil recalled.
She didn’t expect anything from the audition but had to choose between the magic show and The Good Place. “I got pushed towards doing The Good Place,” she said.
Jamil admitted she has been incredibly fortunate, stating that she’s “been in exactly the right time at the right place.”
“It’s ridiculous and it’s good because it means I’ve never disappeared because I’m well aware that I don’t belong here. But I’m having a lovely time and I’m working very hard because I care deeply about not letting down the people who’ve taken a stupid chance on me,” she said.
The Good Place, created by Mike Schur, premiered in 2016 and ran until 2020. The series starred Jamleela Jamil alongside Kristen Bell, Ted Danson, William Jackson Harper and Manny Jacinto. The Good Place is currently streaming on Netflix.
