Jameela Jamil on navigating Hollywood and following her instincts
The British star talks meeting her idols and not taking herself too seriously
When Jameela Jamil was offered the role of Tess in the Netflix rom-com A Merry Little Ex-Mas, which lands on screens today (12 November 2025), her childhood fandom of Clueless and Sabrina the Teenage Witch made it impossible to turn down.
“I grew up obsessed with Alicia Silverstone and Melissa Joan Hart in particular,” the English actress says of her co-stars. “This was such a fun opportunity for my inner nine-year-old to just hang out with them.” Far from playing it cool when she arrived on set, Jamil mentioned Clarissa Explains It All and Sabrina the Teenage Witch — the teen sitcoms Hart starred in throughout the 1990s — the very first moment she met Hart. “I brought it up within 10 seconds. I got selfies on the first day. I was deeply, deeply pathetic, and I don’t care.”
Thankfully, the old adage, ‘never meet your heroes’, was wrong on this occasion. Jamil was left in awe of Hart (who also produces A Merry Little Ex-Mas) and Silverstone’s deep professionalism and work ethic. “You might expect them to be really jaded and over the business, but they take it so seriously. Melissa is the most supportive producer ever. A joy to work with. She’s so attentive and liberating to work with.”
It wasn’t just the chance to quiz Hart and Silverstone about their careers that convinced Jamil to sign up for A Merry Little Ex-Mas, though. “I’m a general fan of rom-coms. I’m a general fan of Christmas movies. Like most of us, in Netflix we trust. So it was just really cool to get the chance to do a Netflix rom-com with everyone that was involved.”
In A Merry Little Ex-Mas, Jamil’s Tess is the new girlfriend of Everett (Oliver Hudson), who has recently divorced Kate (Alicia Silverstone). They’d planned to have one final Christmas together as a family with their children – until the arrival of Tess causes Kate to fall into the arms of Chet Moore (Pierson Fode). Soon Kate and Everett begin to wonder if they should be separating at all.
Jamil calls A Merry Little Ex-Mas the ideal slice of escapism, something she believes is pivotal in our politically divided times. “We are getting enough seriousness on news feeds and Instagram. I’m looking to give people the entertainment that Hollywood gave me when I was sad, stressed and afraid. I’m not here trying to make some big statement. I want people to be able to immerse themselves in something frivolous and fun… Hollywood tried for a long time to shove messages of morality up people’s arses. I don’t think they liked it.”
When she’s not acting, though, Jamil hasn’t been afraid to voice her opinions and use her platform as a form of protest, publicly taking a stance on issues including body shaming, airbrushing, gender equality, and representation on screen.
“I use my public profile to give people information, but if you actually want to open and change people’s minds, it’s much easier to do it while they’re laughing. You can bring people together faster through comedy,” explains Jamil, who points to Will & Grace as a great example of how humour helped change the way Americans viewed the gay community.
She also cites The Good Place, the existential fantasy comedy series she starred in for four seasons, as another show that highlighted how people of “very different political ideologies, backgrounds, and cultures can put their differences aside for the greater good.” When it comes to what she looks for in a project, Jamil explains, “I enjoy doing something frivolous but heartfelt that guides people towards a feeling of love, community and having appreciation for someone who’s different to them.”
Jamil’s performance as Tahani in The Good Place was actually responsible for her landing the role in A Merry Little Ex-Mas. Hart was a fan of the show, and recognised that Jamil’s comedic chops and personality could add a fun dimension to the film. Jamil was happy to oblige – and also appreciated the chance to tap back into the character, more than five years after The Good Place concluded. “I thought it could be quite fun for Tahani fans to almost get a glimpse into her life before she died on the show. Genuinely, like part of my thinking, was, ‘God, it would be really fun just to give Tahani one last go.’”
Unlike some television actors, who after playing a character for years look to portray someone completely different, Jamil insists that she doesn’t want to escape Tahani. “I love that role. I’m so grateful for that role. I remember being cast and begging (creator) Mike Schur not to hire me because I felt so unworthy of such an incredible opportunity.”
Previously a television and radio host in London, Jamil moved to Los Angeles with the intention of being a screenwriter. She only went to The Good Place audition as a joke. After landing the part, she even asked Schur if she should get acting lessons. “He was like, ‘No, do exactly what your instincts are for the character.’”
Jamil credits her continued on-screen success, which has since included roles in She-Hulk: Attorney At Law and Pitch Perfect: Bumper In Berlin, to that same instinctive approach to her performances. “Acting is knowing your lines, finding the characters, then doing your job. I think when people try to make a big old mince pie over it, it’s a bit embarrassing.”
For A Merry Little Ex-Mas, Jamil once again knew she didn’t have to overthink it. She had great material to work with, plenty of space to improvise, and really fun actors to play opposite. And, while Jamil reiterates that A Merry Little Ex-Mas “is not supposed to be very deep,” she does hope it can provide welcome festive respite — especially for families that have been through divorce — and leave people feeling “a bit warm and fuzzy”, adding, “If we did that, then we achieved our job.”
A Merry Little Ex-Mas is available to stream on Netflix now.
