Naomi Scott has officially arrived in Hollywood.
With Disney's live-action Aladdin movie and a Charlie's Angels reboot now added to her
resume, this British star appears to be the next big thing in the movie industry.
Here's the untold truth of Naomi Scott.
Because Scott's parents are both pastors at a Pentecostal church in the UK, you might
think that she was pushed into a deeply religious upbringing.
But Scott told The Telegraph that wasn't the case at all.
She credited her parents with giving her room to find religion on her own, which ended up
making her faith stronger in the long run — and helped her relate better to non-believers.
She said:
"Yes, I have a belief system, but I don't know everything, and we're all just as messed
up as each other."
Scott called her parents' church "diverse", and "a big family."
It's also where she started singing.
She was a part of the church band and would sing gospel music every Sunday.
Scott told Hypebae:
"Growing up in the church fostered an inner spirituality that also introduced me to the
concept of music having a deeper meaning."
Like so many other kids in the UK, Scott played soccer in her youth.
And it sounds like she would have kept playing the sport, which is known as football in the
UK, if she had been good enough.
She told the UK edition of Vogue:
"[I] loved football, but you hit a certain age and you feel like that's not something
you can do anymore."
So when the British romantic comedy Bend it like Beckham was released in 2002, Scott — whose
father is English and whose mother's family emigrated from India to Uganda before ending
up in the UK — connected with the film on a whole other level.
The movie quickly became her favorite.
Scott told Vogue:
"It was an Indian girl who wanted to play football.
That movie was literally made for me.
I just thought I was Jesminder."
The coincidences don't end there, either.
Scott also explained:
"I even played football in that same park as a kid.
That was me."
Scott was discovered when she was singing at her parents' church at age 12.
Kelle Bryan — a member of 90s R&B girl group Eternal — just so happened to be on hand
in another room and was immediately taken aback by Scott's voice.
Bryan later told The Sun:
"I was speaking at her mum and dad's church and I heard this person singing in the background.
"I said, 'I want to sign her'.
I hadn't seen her, I didn't know what she looked like, I just heard her voice."
Bryan represented actors and not singers, but she very much wanted to represent the
young girl, so she encouraged Scott to go into acting.
Bryan explained:
"She was like, 'But I don't act.
I was like, 'Yeah, yeah, we'll work on that — you will.'"
Aladdin isn't the first time Scott has worked with the entertainment empire that brings
magic into every child's home.
She appeared on Disney UK's Life Bites in 2009, and then followed that up with the 2011
Disney Channel TV movie Lemonade Mouth, which she filmed in Hollywood when she was 17.
Scott told The Telegraph:
"I was very green, it was my first movie.
I learnt on the job; I had no training, no drama school."
Scott explained that Lemonade Mouth still holds a special place in her heart, saying:
"I gained lifelong friends, and people still recognize me most from that movie."
She's not kidding about the lifelong friends part, either.
The band got back together, so to speak, in 2015 — as depicted in a photo Scott posted
on Instagram.
And in 2017, Lemonade Mouth co-star Bridgit Mendler joined Scott at the premiere of Scott's
film Power Rangers, after which Mendler posted a sweet Instagram post in support of her friend.
She wrote:
"So proud of my sis @naomigscott tonight you are the most beautiful and kickass pink ranger
ever."
Her career wasn't the only thing Scott found in her parents' church — it's also where
she met her husband, journeyman soccer player Jordan Spence.
Scott was 16 at the time and would go on to marry Spence in 2014 when she was 21.
And if you think that's a pretty young age to get married, you're not alone — Scott
feels the same way.
She told The Telegraph:
"I was never that person who wanted to get married young.
It was never what I yearned for, but isn't that the way?"
Scott has been quick to point out that Spence is an "avid reader" and enjoys cooking.
But while Scott's career is starting to heat up nicely, Spence seems to be struggling to
find stability in soccer.
He's bounced around a number of different clubs in England, and occasionally finds himself
unemployed.
Spence jokingly told the East Anglian Daily Times in 2017:
"Normally it's the actresses that are out of work, not the footballer!"
Scott was so excited to land a small part in 2015's Oscar-nominated Matt Damon film
The Martian that she picked out a special outfit and invited her friend to the film's
cast and crew screening in London.
But, as she explained on Jimmy Kimmel Live, that excitement eventually turned to disappointment
when she realized her lines had been cut from the film.
"And I was like, ‘It’s just the next… after the rover.’
And I’m like carrying on, watching it/ And then hope just slips away."
If anything, the experience taught her how difficult it is to be an actor who comes on
set to film just one scene.
She told the Telegraph:
"Now if I am a lead in a movie, I go out of my way to make that actor feel really comfortable."
And just FYI, she wasn't completely cut out from the movie.
She's in there briefly — she just doesn't say anything.
Funnily enough, you might have actually heard one of Scott's songs already and not even
realized it.
Her track "Hear the Bells", off of her Invisible Division EP, was featured in a 2015 commercial
for Sean "Diddy" Combs's DeLeon Tequila.
Scott let onto her excitement in a Facebook post of the 15-second commercial, which was
part of DeLeon's The Next Level ad campaign.
Combs told AdAge, via a statement, that people today want "quick, enticing content" and that
"you have to capture them with the first beat."
Scott said the song — which was the first track on her first EP — was deeply personal
for her.
She told HuffPost:
"It was about me falling in love for the first time."
Who could have guessed such a special moment in her life would end up soundtracking a tequila
commercial?
Not only is Scott a singer and actress, but she's also a matchmaker — at least she was
for fellow singer and actress Becky G.
In an interview with Mega 96.3 FM, Becky G spoke about their time together on the 2017
Power Rangers movie — and Scott's stellar matchmaking skills.
"She's like it's fine, it’s fine.
I already know who’s gonna marry here.
She’s talking to her husband, ‘it’s Sebby, it’s Sebby.’
And I’m like, who's this Sebby guy?"
The person Scott had in mind was Los Angeles Galaxy soccer player Sebastian Lletget, who
had previously played with Scott's husband, Jordan Spence.
Becky G initially resisted, claiming she was too busy focusing on her career, until Scott
actually showed her a video of Lletget.
She tried to play it cool, but in reality she was pretty into the soccer stud.
Judging by Becky G's Instagram pics, she and Lletget are still going strong to this day.
What should have been one of the most exciting moments of Scott's career quickly turned sour
when news of her Aladdin casting was met with backlash.
Scott's dad is British and her mom's family moved from India to Uganda to the U.K., but
critics still felt the role of Jasmine should have been played by someone of Middle Eastern
descent.
Their line of reasoning suggested that, although the story takes place in the fictional city
of Agrabah, the legendary tale that inspired the movie was set in Baghdad.
Scott admitted that she has a hard time ignoring the reaction.
She told W Magazine:
"It's hard, man.
I'm not going to lie to you and say I never look at Twitter to see what people are saying
about me.
Anyone who says that is a liar!
So you have to train yourself.
It's actually like a discipline not to look."
In an interview with The Telegraph, Scott repeated those sentiments, saying:
"You genuinely cannot please everyone.
That feeling of being misunderstood by people commenting about me — if I put energy into
that, I will get nowhere."
Asked whether the backlash hurt or not, Scott responded:
"Of course.
You're human."
The audition process for Jasmine was extensive; hundreds of actresses around the world tried
out for the role of the princess in the live-action Aladdin.
Scott told W Magazine she bought a navy blue top with big sleeves for the audition, which
she figured was "perfect."
It wasn't Jasmine's trademark light blue outfit, but that's a good thing — she didn't want
to look like a cosplayer.
Following the audition, Scott was asked to come back, only this time the casting directors
had a few requests.
“And actually they asked me to come back.
And they were like, could she put some makeup on and maybe a dress."
Believe it or not, Scott claimed she didn't own a dress at the time, so headed off to
buy one.
And she didn't hit up some high-end boutique, either — she ran to her nearest Topshop
and bought a flowery dress.
Scott landed the role of Jasmine months later and, it would appear, now has a few more dresses
in her closet.
She might be better known for her acting career than her music, but Scott seems to want to
change that.
She told The Telegraph that music is her first love, adding that she realized at age 11 that
she was actually pretty good at it.
Acting wasn't part of the plan at all, in fact.
It kind of just happened, largely thanks to Kelle Bryan.
Scott told Hypebae:
"Acting is an avenue that has opened doors.
I will eventually switch gears to solely music, but at the moment it is both."
Scott released her debut EP, Invisible Division, in 2014, and followed that up with her Promises
EP in 2016.
She told The Telegraph that she has resisted signing with a label so that she has "creative
control" over her music — and because there is "strength" in owning her masters and publishing.
Even with her acting career on the rise, however, Scott is determined to make music happen — she's
just waiting for the right moment.
She told W Magazine:
"I think that I have the bits that can translate commercially when the time is right."
Elizabeth Banks clearly liked what she saw from Scott on the set of the Power Rangers
movie, since she later asked her to play one of the leads in her Charlie's Angels reboot.
Banks's people reached out to Scott's and, as Banks' explained in her interview with
W Magazine:
"They were like, 'Well, she's doing Aladdin.
Bye!'"
So what changed?
Well, the Charlie's Angels start date was pushed back and no longer conflicted with
the Aladdin shoot.
Scott auditioned for the role and Banks said the studio execs knew after 40 seconds she
was the right fit.
Banks said:
"I was looking for an everywoman.
A relatable girl next door that audience members could look at and go, 'If that girl can become
a Charlie's Angel, then I can, too.'"
Scott will be joined on the big screen in late 2019 by fellow Angels Kristen Stewart
and Ella Balinska.
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