...and Jameela Jamil is fine with that

Jameela Jamil has revealed that there is a gender pay gap between the main stars on her US sitcom The Good Place. And she’s fine with that.

‘There is a pay gap between Ted Danson and Kristen Bell,’ she told Radio 5 live. ‘But he was in Cheers, he is a national treasure. It's not just about gender, that's about what you bring to the table.

‘But when there's a man and woman of the same age, with the same level of experience in any industry, it blows my mind we are still treated as second-rate citizens and I think it is changing, slowly but surely.’

Jamil said she felt ‘very comfortable’ asking her co-stars what they earn.’

In the same interview the former Radio 1 DJ says some Britons told her  she was ‘too old, too ethnic and too fat’ to launch a career in the States.

She moved to Los Angeles three years ago, aged 29, with no job or plan.

But she landed her role as wealthy British philanthropist Tahani Al-Jamil in The Good Place on her first audition.

She admitted she exaggerated her acting experience, saying: ‘I lied… I said I'd mostly done theatre because it's harder to track down. Technically it's not a lie because when I was six I played Oliver's mother in my school play. I was creative with the truth.’

She said she ‘had to learn how to act from Ted Danson. I'm a fast learner and I have an amazing group of people around me. I'm not De Niro, but I'm getting there.’

The Good Place has been renewed for a third season on NBC and is available on Netflix in the UK.

Published: 21 May 2018