Jameela Jamil never wanted to date a musician before she "accidentally" fell in love with James Blake.
The ‘Good Place’ actress had been unimpressed by the"ego-maniac" performers she met while presenting on T4 and BBC Radio 1 – but was pleasantly surprised when she met James when she moved to Los Angeles four years ago.
She admitted: "I met so many ego-maniacs in my time at T4 and Radio 1 who are in this industry and to find a really good egg, who was well raised and doesn’t think he’s God’s gift to earth, is really cool."
The 32-year-old star credits the singer/songwriter with improving her self-confidence.
She told Red magazine: "He’s taught me how to believe in myself – he’s infected me with his white, male privilege. Whenever I’ve said I can’t do something, he looks at me like I’m crazy."
Jameela never intended to move into acting and thinks one of the reasons why she landed her role as Tahani Al-Jamil in ‘The Good Place’ was because she thought the idea was so "ridiculous", which meant she was very relaxed in her audition.
Explaining how she heard about the role from a manager she’d signed up with to work with on a script, she said: "The audition came up and he said, ‘It’s an annoying, overly tall English woman – basically you.’
"I felt very calm and carefree during the audition because it was just so ridiculous an idea that I would become an actor.
"I guess because I was so relaxed, I was able to be myself and that happened to be what [producer] Mike Schur was looking for."
After three years in the role, Jameela – who has been open about her past struggles with anorexia – is finally comfortable with herself.
She said: "Figuring out that I’m not going to figure it out has been the biggest and most liberating revelation of my life.
"That and not trying to be perfect any more."
Jameela Jamil: I fell in love by accident
