Jameela Alia Jamil (born 25 February 1986) is a British actress and presenter. She began her career on Channel 4, where she hosted a pop culture series in the T4 strand from 2009 until 2012. She then became the radio host of The Official Chart, and was co-host of The Official Chart Update alongside Scott Mills on BBC Radio 1. She was the first solo female presenter of the BBC Radio 1 chart show.
In 2016, Jamil relocated to the United States. She played Tahani Al-Jamil in the NBC fantasy comedy series The Good Place. She is also the host of the TBS late night game show in The Misery Index and as one of the judges of voguing reality competition show Legendary. In 2022, Jamil worked on two superhero projects: the animated film DC League of Super-Pets and the Marvel Cinematic Universe television series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.
Early life
Jamil was born on 25 February 1986 in Hampstead, London, to an Indian father, Ali Jamil, and a Pakistani-British mother, Shireen Jamil. She stated in 2015 that as a child, she faced a plethora of health problems; being born with congenital hearing loss and labyrinthitis for which she says she has had several operations to correct, and that she had 70% hearing ability in her left ear and 50% in her right ear. She has stated that aged nine she was diagnosed with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a genetic disorder affecting the connective tissue in the body, and was diagnosed with coeliac disease at age 12. She has also stated that she experienced mercury poisoning at age 21, which she attributes to mercury leakage from amalgam teeth fillings, and further exacerbated by the improper removal of them, which she says burned holes in her digestive system.
She has stated that she suffered as a teenager from anorexia nervosa, and describes not eating a full meal between the ages of 14 and 17. She believes her eating disorder developed due to societal pressure, including magazine articles selling weight loss products. She states that at age 17 she was struck by a car while running from a bee, breaking several bones and damaging her spine. She describes being told that she might never walk again, but slowly recovering after steroid treatment and physiotherapy, using a Zimmer frame to start walking. She credits the car accident for pushing her towards recovery from anorexia, saying it changed her relationship with her body. She attended Queen's College School in London but was unable to complete her A-Levels, citing the accident. She has stated she then taught English to foreign students at the Callan School of English in London for two years. In a 2013 interview with The Independent, she said she worked as a model scout but never as a model, although in 2020, she stated she worked as a model but denied being one in early interviews. She also describes having worked as a photographer, scout and model agent for Premier Model Management.
