Maya Jama has landed her debut big screen acting role and is set to start filming in February.
The television presenter and DJ, who recently launched her own range of face and eye masks, has also revealed that she almost joined the cast of Skins as a teenager.
Now 26, the Bristol-born broadcaster said she was rejected at the final hurdle after auditioning for the Bristol-based TV drama more than a decade ago.
Speaking on Channel 4 cooking show Sunday Brunch yesterday (December 13), she said the film role was still "secret" and had been delayed due to coronavirus.
She told hosts Tim Lovejoy and Simon Rimmer: "I have wanted to act for ages - when I was younger, that's originally what I wanted to do.
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"Then I auditioned for Skins when I was like 15, and got to the final round, and it was between me and one other girl.
"She got it and then I was like 'no I'm rubbish I never want to act again!' and then kind of went into presenting."
She added that she feels now is a "good time" for her to revisit her acting ambitions.
Mij Masks founder Maya said she has landed the part of a “really shy” character in the mystery film, which is due to shoot in the Caribbean.
It marks her first big screen role after appearing briefly in Katherine Ryan’s Netflix series The Duchess as Sandra.
Speaking on Sunday Brunch, she added: “I am supposed to be doing a film but because of Covid everything has been pushed back.
"It was supposed to be in April then it got moved to the next month, next month, and now fingers crossed February.
Filming in Caribbean
"It’s secret-y at the moment but I am playing somebody really shy that’s the opposite to me and it’s in the Caribbean, so that’s why it can’t go ahead.
"So those are my two clues but I don’t know if I am allowed to give out anything else."
Skins originally aired between 2007 and 2013, and Maya missed out on a part before she moved from Bristol to London as a teenager.
The former Cotham School pupil, who left her role as a Radio 1 DJ earlier this year to focus on different projects, hosted the MOBO awards last week.
She said she is taking acting lessons to help her transition into the new career path.
She added: "As a presenter you spend so much time just being yourself and coming across as yourself on camera, transitioning into acting, it’s like, ‘Now be someone just completely different,’ which is really hard.
"But I am having a go. I have been sitting in front of my mirror a lot, watching closely actors on films and trying to fake cry."
