Remember Naomi Scott’s name. Between her role in last year’s Power Rangers movie, her up-coming turn as Princess Jasmine in Guy Ritchie’s live action re-make of Aladdin and news that she’ll be one third of the newly re-booted Charlie’s Angels (alongside Kristen Stewart and newcomer Ella Balinska), the London-born actress is making the transition to blockbuster stardom look easy.
Aged just 25, she’s also managed to carve out a singing career, has become one of fashion’s most in-demand faces, and hangs out with Will Smith. An over achiever? Most definitely. Multi-talented? Absolutely. As Naomi’s star continues to rise and rise, here’s everything you need to know about her…
She’s a Disney Channel graduate
Naomi, second from left, with her Lemonade Mouth co-stars.
Long before her casting as one of Disney’s best-loved princesses, Naomi’s first acting role came courtesy of the Mouse House. Back in 2008, she appeared in the UK Disney Channel’s Life Bites, a series following the fortunes of a friendship group in a London school (among her castmates was Jeremy Irvine, who’s since joined the Mamma Mia! extended universe playing a younger iteration of Pierce Brosnan‘s character).
She then made a jump across the Atlantic for another Disney project. Lemonade Mouth, a drama from the same song sheet as High School Musical, told the story of five students who form a band after meeting in detention.
She’s a real double threat
Naomi is as talented a musician as she is an actress. She began singing in the Youth Band at the Bridge Chuch in Woodford, where her parents Usha and Christopher are pastors, and has released two EPs on her own label: Invisible Division in 2014 and Promises in 2016. She’s currently at work on a follow-up, saying March that she’d “locked herself away” to focus on making an album.
She’s married to a footballer
Naomi has been married to former England youth captain Jordan Spence, who now plays for Ipswich Town, since 2014. They dated for four years before tying the knot. Naomi and Jordan make regular, impossibly photogenic appearances on one another’s Instagram accounts, but as players in the very tricky game of social media PDA, they manage to successfully land in the ‘actually pretty sweet’ camp, rather than the ‘let’s hit mute now’ camp.
She’s worked with Steven Spielberg
Naomi’s first major US role came courtesy of Terra Nova, a dystopian sci-fi drama produced by the critically acclaimed director. She played Maddy, a teen whose family is chosen to join a new colony in a parallel time stream, while Earth faces an over-population crisis. After airing in 2011, it was cancelled after one season. Naomi went on to re-visit sci-fi with a brief role in The Martian, appearing in the film’s extended version.
Her Aladdin casting sparked some debate
Naomi on the set of Aladdin with her cast-mates including the incomparable Will Smith.
When news of Naomi’s role in Aladdin broke, not everyone was happy with Disney’s decision. Jasmine is Middle-Eastern, whereas Naomi has British and Indian heritage. In the view of many online commenters, her casting represented a missed opportunity to spotlight an Arab actress, or proof that Hollywood all too often sees women of colour as ‘interchangeable.’ To date, neither Disney nor Naomi has commented extensively on the row.
She’s already a front row regular
Since the release of Power Rangers last year, Naomi has been a guest list regular for some of fashion month’s most in-demand catwalk presentations. Last season alone, she attended shows by the likes of Stella McCartney, Loewe, Valentino and Erdem, so expect to see her sitting in the best seats in the house by the time the next big shows roll around.
She shares a stylist with Lady Amelia Windsor
Naomi has been fine-tuning her red carpet style with the help of Zadrian Smith, a fashion director who also counts one of our most stylish minor royals, Lady Amelia Windsor, among his clients. ‘[He’s] my right hand man, slash angel, slash everything,’ she told WWD at Paris Fashion Week. According to Smith, their approach is a collaborative one. ‘She’s very, very, very involved in her vision and her aesthetic and what she wants to communicate visually,’ he told the magazine.
This article was originally published on Grazia.
