Jayma Mays - Grazia Interview!

When Emma Pillsbury, the school guidance counsellor with a morbid fear of dirt and disarray, first appeared on Glee, you could have been forgiven for not instantly recognising her as a fashion revolutionary. Cute as a button on a pastel cardigan, sure, but a style icon? Yet that’s what she and her superlative sweater-clips have become. The Guardian recently singled Emma out as one of the best-dressed characters on TV: “Those sugar sorbet shades, those ‘50’s-style shift dresses, that endless selection of delicately embellished cardigans: this isn’t a TV character, this is a model for Marc by Marc Jacobs,” they wrote. New York Magazine ran an Emma lookbook, complete with commentary from Glee’s costume designer, Lou Eyrich (who’s won her own Emmy for her brilliant work). And if that wasn’t enough, check out the twinset homages on www.wwepw.com - yup, a website that is indeed called What Would Emma Pillsbury Wear? So we decided to take things one step further and get Jayma Mays, the brilliant actress behind our germophobic heroine, to do ‘70’s-inspired high fashion - styled as you’ve never seen her before. And to tell us how it feels to represent a whole new kind of geek chic. Oh yeah, plus indulge us for a second in dishing the dirt on Glee’s, erm, sex ban.

Grazia - So how does it feel to suddenly become a style icon? You must have been over the moon when you saw the blog What Would Emma Pillsbury Wear?
Jayma - Ha! Actually that is thanks to Lou Eyrich, the Glee stylist, not me. She’s the best-dressed lady you will ever meet. She has such an eye for knowing how to dress different types of people.

Grazia - Were you into clothes before Glee?
Jayma - I’ve always liked them, but I would never break the bank on them. I’m a little bit too conservative for that. To this day half of my wardrobe is probably H&M. I’ve learned a lot about fashion from things like doing this Grazia photoshoot.

Grazia - Which designers do you wear on the red carpet?
Jayma - My stylist, Ilaria Urbinati, and I always think it doesn’t matter who the designer is, as long as the dress looks amazing. Famous designers or new designer, great. I’m not afraid of trying colour and new things. I trust Ilaria completely because she knows what looks good and also what photographs well, which is something I wouldn’t think about. I don’t know that I feel like a style icon - I’m still new to all this stuff!

Grazia - Well, you’re doing a good job. So, give us a bit of gossip. What’s life really like on the Glee set? We’ve heard so many rumours…
Jayma - Like what?

Grazia - Mainly that Lea Michele, who plays Rachel, is a total diva…
Jayma - It’s funny, I get a lot of questions about that, which sometimes surprises me because I’ve only ever seen Lea being lovely. Her character is quite different from who she really is. But she’s a driven young lady and I just think she’s so talented and so amazing. She’s a very interesting girl.

Grazia - We also heard that inter-cast relations were getting so steamy that show creator Michael Patrick King had to instate a sex ban…
Jayma - Sorry, a what? A sex ban? Are we banned from having sex with each other, or does that mean I can’t sleep with my husband? No one is having sex with anyone? Oh, what a pure show we must have. Ha ha, what an amazing idea.

Grazia - So you’re saying the cast of Glee are bonking each other left, right and centre?
Jayma - Totally, totally. Me and my make-up lady Erin, we’re always stuck in the corner together. No, it’s just my husband for me I’m afraid. He’s a British actor called Adam Campbell and we met while acting in a very silly, funny film called Epic Movie together. We waited until the day after we finished shooting to go on our first, but I think we knew. We shared the same very immature sense of humour. I always said I’d never date a fellow actor but now I can’t imagine not being with one. We’re currently restoring our house in Los Feliz hills, LA, together, designing it all ourselves. We’ve got a very good thing going on.

Grazia - Does he find your alter-ego Emma attractive?
Jayma - You know I had a lot of sweater-cardigans before, but now when I put them on, he goes, “Take it off, you’re too Emma!” So I’ve literally had to chuck all my Emma-esque stuff out.

Grazia - You’re not an all-singing, all-dancing Glee character. Were you nervous when you finally had to sing? (Jayma sang I Could Have Danced All Night mid-way through the first season)
Jayma - I will always remember the first time I had to sing on Glee. I spent all day eating toast and drinking water because my stomach was so upset. I grew up singing a little, but I was never trained - so it just scared the bejeezus out of me. Terrified.

Grazia - You weren’t a stage-school kid like other cast members?
Jayma - No! I grew up in the Appalachian Mountains, in a mining town where everyone was covered in soot. My parents ran a coal-testing laboratory; a real Jekyll and Hyde lab, things would bubble and turn different colours. I would go there after school. I would have loved to be a Glee Club weirdo but there wasn’t really any music or acting, so I became a med student. But I quit because I just knew I had to try acting. So I studied, then came to LA and acted in theatres with more people on the stage than in the audience. Until I got spotted for a part in Joey, then Six Feet Under and now Glee.

Grazia - Do you feel like an elder stateswoman on set, at the grand old age of 31?
Jayma - I do a bit! I think that probably adds to my anxiety - I feel a little intimidated when the others come in and sing and dance because I don’t feel up to par. But actually, when we filmed the pilot episode I felt I wasn’t old enough to be mentoring these children and playing their guidance counsellor because I still feel immature myself. I never grew out of my awkward stage. But the good thing about Emma is that parts of her are more naive than the high-schoolers.

Grazia - She wasn’t really a likely candidate for her position, was she?
Jayma - I don’t know how she got that job. I have no idea. But I feel that the writers have giver her a really good arc. At first she was a mess with the OCD and her fear of germs. If you look at her desk now there;ll be pencils askew, papers in a triangle.

Grazia - Who do you hang out with on set?
Jayma - I’m always by the side of one of the production assistants, Telly. They ask over the PA, ‘Where’s Jayma? Telly, is she with you?’ And Matt (Morrison, teacher Will) and I have been friends since before the show, so we’re close. Jane (Lynch, who plays evil coach, Sue) - wow, I get nervous around her still ‘cos I think she’s so amazing. I love her, I totally feel star-struck.

Grazia - Being in such a high-profile show, is there pressure to stay thin?
Jayma - Well, I probably lost 10 pounds when I arrived in LA just because I’m from the South and there was no fried chicken and casserole anymore. But I’ve always been healthy, I go hiking in the Hollywood Hills nearly every day. LA is a great place to be outdoors - there’s mountains and the beach. We think it would be a cool place to raise kids.

Grazia - Well, you do play a pregnany character in the forthcoming Smurfs film…
Jayma- Yeah, the Smurfs get thrown into our human world and cause mayhem and we try to help get them home to the Smurf Land. It’s based on a true story, ha ha! When I was acting there were just stickers to stand to stand in for the Smurfs, who are animated. I sometimes felt I was losing my mind!

Grazia - And finally, do you have any particular Glee fans who pop up everywhere?
Jayma - Like groupies? Well, we can’t do that now, what with the sex ban. You know you’ve ruined my day with that. I’m going to have to make a phone call. And throw away all these condoms.

source: tina-cohen-loser.tumblr.com