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She’s best known for presenting TV shows like The Circle, True Love or True Lies and Save Our Summer, as well as being a Radio One DJ, but Maya Jama recently added another string to her bow when she made her acting debut in Katherine Ryan’s Netflix comedy The Duchess.
We absolutely loved Maya in her new role but it turns out that her acting career almost started much earlier.
The 26-year-old, who split from long-term boyfriend Stormzy last year, has revealed that she almost starred in iconic teen drama Skins after auditioning for the Channel 4 show while she was at school.
“At school I always wanted to act, that was my first dream to be an actress and I did loads of auditions,” she told Metro.
“I was around 14 or 15 and I had a few close calls to be in things like Skins nearly, and I did a couple of adverts and little things.”
CHECK OUT iconic Skins cast - where are they now?
Skins WATN (slider) - use this one
1 of 17Jack O'Connell (James Cook)
Big headed James Cook, played by Jack O'Connell, had a hard outer shell but underneath he had a sensitive side. Since Skins, Jack has continued to appear in a number of films and TV shows including the 2013 film Starred Up, which he received a number of awards for. Most recently, he's starred in the Netflix series Godless.
2 of 17Lisa Backwell (Pandora Moon)
Lisa Backwell played Pandora 'Panda' Moon in the hit series appearing in the series two to four. An unlikely friendship was born between Effy and Panda when Effy started at a private school.Not much is known about Lisa now. According to reports she has given up acting, but her social media profiles don't seem to give much away.
3 of 17Joe Dempsie (Chris Miles)
Joe played party boy Chris Miles in the first two seasons of the series. Chris was a bit of a hedonist, having left college and being unemployed.Joe's biggest post-Skins role was playing Gendry in Game of Thrones, although he's also appeared in a number of other TV shows throughout the years including a recent role in Channel 4's Adult Material.
4 of 17Kaya Scodelario (Effy Stomen)
Tony's sister Effy, played by Kaya Scodelario, appeared right from the beginning, but became a main character in the third and fourth series. Kaya most recently starred in blockbusters Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge and Maze Runner: The Death Cure. She also shares a son with her husband Benjamin Walker, who she married in 2015.
5 of 17Mitch Hewer (Maxxie Oliver)
Maxxie Oliver, another of the 'original' group from the first two series was best friends Anwar, played by Dev Patel, and used to love showing off his dance moves.As well as role in ITV's Britannia High, Mitch joined the cast of Casualty as Mickey Ellisson in 2017.
6 of 17Nicholas Hoult (Tony Stonem)
In Skins he played the 'bad boy' Tony Stonem for the first two series.Since leaving Skins he has continued to be an actor starring in a number of films including many in the X-Men franchise, Mad Max: Fury Road and The Current War.
7 of 17Ollie Barbieri (JJ)
Along with Freddie and Cook, JJ, played by Ollie Barbieri was one of the The Musketeers. According to reports Ollie has been quiet on the acting front after appearing in the British comedy film Anuvahood (2011) and a few short films.
8 of 17Mike Bailey (Sid Jenkins)
Sid Jenkins was the lovable geek, he was Tony's best mate and had a romance with Cassie that hooked many.Mike has since quit acting and now works as a secondary school teacher.
9 of 17Megan Prescott (Katie Fitch)
Megan played Katie Fitch in the show (of 'Katie f--king Fitch, who the f--k are you?' fame). She's now an actress, writer and fitness model.
10 of 17Kathryn Prescott (Emily Fitch)
Kathryn played Emily Fitch in Skins, who was in a relationship with Naomi Campbell. Since leaving the series she has continued to act most recently appearing in 24: Legacy a spin-off to the popular TV show starring Kiefer Sutherland.
11 of 17Merveille Lukeba (Thomas)
Merv played lead character Thomas Tomone in series three and four of Skins. Having an on screen romance with Panda he made a mistake when he slept with his pastor's daughter.Since leaving Skins he appeared in a few other TV shows, after a show break he appeared in A United Kingdom playing the part of Joe Appiah, a Ghanaian lawyer, politician and statesman.
12 of 17Larissa Wilson (Jal)
Larissa played Jal Fazer in Skins. Jal was a clever girl who was a talented clarinet player who ended up going out with Chris.Since leaving Skins Larissa has starred in a few TV shows and the film Tormented in 2009 where she was reunited with her former Skins co-star April Pearson.
13 of 17Luke Pasqualino (Freddie McClair)
Known for playing Freddie McClair, his character had a stormy relationship with Effy.Since leaving Skins, he starred in a TV adaption of the film Snatch as well as BBC One's Our Girl.
14 of 17Lily Loveless (Naomi)
Lily Loveless played the character Naomi Campbell who ended up with Emily before things ended sadly as Naomi developed cancer.Lily has continued to act, both on screen and in the theatre.
15 of 17Dev Patel (Anwar)
Dev played Anwar in Skins, possibly the best behaved of the group of teens who often found themselves in trouble.In the years since Skins Dev has had a successful film career starring in Slumdog Millionaire for which he won a number of awards.
16 of 17April Pearson (Michelle)
Michelle Richardson was Tony's long-suffering girlfriend who also ended up having a relationship with Sid and Josh.April, now 31-years-old, has starred in a number of short films since her stint in Skins.
17 of 17Hannah Murray (Cassie)
Hannah played Cassie in the first two series of Skins, returning for a feature-length episode in season seven.Hannah has starred in a number of films and TV shoes since leaving Skins, her most famous role is Gilly in the hit TV show Game of Thrones.
Maya continued, “Skins came to my school to audition but then that didn’t really happen.
“So then when I moved to London, I was kind of open to whatever, and then realised that presenting is more suited to me because the characters that I was playing at a young age were basically just me.”
We’re DYING to know which character she could have played.
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Maya’s revelation comes after she was linked to Love Island star Wes Nelson, following his split from Arabella Chi earlier this year.
Wes, who released his debut single See Nobody last month, sent the rumour mill into overdrive when he shared a rather cosy looking snap of him and Maya posing backstage at a TV gig.
Although fans flooded the comments suggesting a potential romance between the pair, Maya appeared to shut down the rumours on Twitter when one of her followers sent her a screenshot of the comments.
She replied, “Oh honey, it’s been this way. This is after he was on my team for a TV show but I’ve learnt even if I stood there with a sign on my head saying PRESENTER AT WORK, if I’m next to a man people will act like I linked him down the road for a snog.”