Ja'mie Louise King ( /dʒəˈmeɪ/ jə-may) is a fictitious character from Australian comedy series We Can Be Heroes: Finding The Australian of the Year and Summer Heights High portrayed by actor Chris Lilley. According to both shows the character of Ja'mie is aged 16 and lives in Kirribilli in the North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales,[1] but was born in South Africa. Chris Lilley has performed as this character outside of television, notably on Australian radio's Triple J Today Today show, and has presented an ARIA Award in character.
Lilley portrays Ja'mie as the stunning but atrocious, narcissistic and callous[2] high school girl in Year 11 at Hilford Girls' Grammar School, a fictional private school on Sydney's North Shore. The character was developed by Lilley with the assistance of comedian Ryan Shelton.[3] Lilley developed the characters mannerisms by using recorded interviews with private schoolgirls and also eavesdropping.[3][4] Lilley states that he didn't want teenage girls to watch it and think "that's such an older guy's view of teenagers".[1]
Contents |
Chris Lilley introduced audiences to Ja'mie King for the first time when mockumentary series We Can Be Heroes premiered on 27 July 2005. To set up the character's relevance for the series, it is explained that Ja'mie sponsored 85 Sudanese children for Global Vision (a fictional organisation parodying World Vision), which gave her the National Record. Due to her work of raising money Global Vision decided to make her the 'face' of their organisation. Ja'mie also did the 40 Hour Famine once a week which she said not only helped to raise money but "keeps her looking hot".
Chris Lilley reprises his role of Ja'mie King, a private school exchange student, in the show Summer Heights High broadcast first on 5 September 2007. Like Lilley's portrayal of Ja'mie in We Can be Heroes, her character is described as 'bitchy'; at one point offering the dubious advice to be "fake-nice" to everyone.[5]
|
|||||||||||