‘The Good Place’: Jameela Jamil Recalls Her Audition For The NBC Series

Jameela Jamil thinks that her complacency during her audition for NBC’s “The Good Place” had helped her a lot in landing the role of Tahani.

In a recent interview with iNews, Jamil shared that she had a “relaxed, borderline complacency” when she auditioned for the afterlife comedy, and she was convinced that the show’s bosses had mistaken it for confidence.

Interestingly, that audition was Jamil’s first ever try-out for an acting role. “I honestly had no experience,” Jamil revealed. “Although, at the audition they asked me that question and I panicked and lied. I told them I had ‘done some theatre in England,’ which was technically true. I had one line in the stage play of Oliver at primary school, I played his dying mother. I was six years old.”

Back in January, Jamil revealed to Fresno Bee that she went to the audition expecting that she wouldn’t be getting the role. “I was so sure I was not going to get the role but I thought at least I would get to meet ‘The Good Place’ creator, Michael Schur, to talk about a writing job,” said Jamil, who moved from England to the United States to work as a writer. “I think I got the part because I was so relaxed. The idea of acting was so ridiculous to me. I was completely myself and that maniac gave me a job.”

For his part, Schur told Esquire last year that Jamil is “exactly the person” he imagined for the role of Tahani. “It starts with Allison Jones, who is the greatest casting director in the world,” Schur said of how he cast the supporting roles on the series. “We wrote some insane character descriptions and sent them to her and were like, good luck! The part of Tahani called for a tall, glamorous British woman of Indian or Pakistani descent. And then suddenly Jameela Jamil walked in and we were like, oh you found her. Exactly the person I imagined.”

Before being cast on “The Good Place,” Jamil worked as a writer, DJ and radio host. She has also been part of a TV ad campaign for Maybelline and has done several fashion shoots for U.K. Vogue, In Style and Esquire. The 31-year-old actress also has her own clothing line.

Jamil reprises her role as Tahani in Season 2 of “The Good Place,” which premieres on Wednesday, Sept. 20 at 10 p.m. EDT on NBC.