Jewel Staite

Born June 2nd 1982 in White Rock BC, Canada, Jewel Staite lived on Maui and made her first public appearance at age two in the Maui County Most Beautiful Baby Contest. At four, Jewel moved to Vancouver. After a photo session for mom at the Sears Portrait Studio, Jewel was approached for modeling and asked to do a video for Sears. She didn’t accept the offer.

But years later her mom, being in the advertising industry, arranged a photo shoot and necessary promotional items and Jewel went pro. Vancouver Youth Theatre became her second home where she trained several days a week for several years. Modeling jobs lead to commercials and eventually large television roles. A complete natural, her work appears effortless and she gets straight to the heart of the character. When she was fourteen, Jewel had the distinction of being the first to go mouth-to-mouth with David Duchovny on "The X Files".

Starting September 2002 she could be seen in FOX’s new SciFi series "Firefly" - which only lasted one season, but currently the series airs Fridays before Stargate SG-1 on The SCI FI Channel.

For a good time, Jewel sings jazz and swing. She sings only for fun and good causes and has opened benefits for the Dyslexia Foundation at the Vogue and often offers her talents to benefit her main charity, The Children with AIDS Project of which she was made Teen Spokesperson a few years ago. Her passion is big band, her dream is to have her own rat pack and her style is pure Jewel - exciting, funny, dynamic and passionate about everything she does.

Stargate-Project: First off it would be great if you could tell us something about your person, so our readers have some sort of introduction.

Jewel Staite: I’m a Canadian girl, born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia. I started acting when I was five, and I’ve loved it ever since. I love to travel, and that’s probably one of my favorite parts about my job. I also love to cook, to read, and to see movies. Oh, and I love to shop my face off.

SG-P: How did you get into acting?

JS: I was scouted for a modeling/talent show in a shopping mall, and I was bit by the "acting bug" in a big way. I really just loved attention and the spotlight. My mom enrolled me in a few acting classes, and I had an absolute blast. I started doing commercials, and then graduated to television movies, and then series work, and finally, to film.

SG-P: You already have a lot of credit and are well known in the business. What advice would you give to a teenager if he/she would tell you, he/she wants to become an actor/actress?

JS: DON’T QUIT. It’s really easy to get discouraged in this business, and it’s hard on your ego to keep getting rejected. There’s so many people out there that want the same goal, and there’s so many people that are ready to talk you out of that goal, also. It’s important to stay true to what you want to do and keep going. The cream always rises to the top!

SG-P: Let’s talk about Atlantis. How did you get your Atlantis role? Did you have to audition? If so, could you tell us something about the casting process?

JS: I did audition for it, yes. I was given once scene in which very little information was revealed about my character. I knew there were "some" prosthetics involved, which I didn’t have a problem with (I’d never done prosthetics before). The very next day, I was supposed to fly to England to do some promotional work for a film I was in, so that same afternoon of my audition, they told me I had the part. I was rushed to a prosthetics lab where they took molds of my face, my hands, and my arms. They even measured my eyes for contact lenses! Since I hadn’t watched the show before, I had no idea what a "wraith" was, so I was pretty surprised to see the extent of the prosthetics I would be wearing.

SG-P: When and where (in the studio or a different location for example) did you shoot your episode?

JS: We did some scenes on location, in Lynn Valley here in British Columbia, but most of the episode was shot in the studio.

SG-P: We know you’ll play a female Wraith in the episode "Instinct". What can you tell us about your role?

JS: Her name is Elia, and she’s very different from other wraiths. She was raised by a human, and she has human tendencies and emotions. She’s a very fragile girl who just wants to fit in and be loved. She wants desperately to become a human and she’s terrified of her race and her own wraith-like instincts. But she can’t help be what she is.

SG-P: So you’re playing a Wraith - how do you think about these creatures / this race?

JS: They look and act almost reptilian, so that was a little hard to master at first, the "hissing" especially. It was really fun, though.

SG-P: What can you tell us about the episode in general? What is it about?

JS: It’s basically about the discovery of this wraith, this girl, who is so completely different from the other wraiths that they’re used to. She’s been living in hiding, for fear of being discovered and killed by the humans in this village, who are being terrorized by a "being" in the woods with tendencies that are very wraith-like.

SG-P: Who did you have the most scenes with?

JS: I had a lot of scenes with the man who played my father, and I also had a few scenes with the group as a whole.

SG-P: How was working for Atlantis if you compare it to other projects you’ve been working on?

JS: It was a very relaxed set, very jovial and lots of laughing. I love sets like that. The hours weren’t very long, so there wasn’t a lot of stress, and people just seemed like they were having a wonderful time.

SG-P: How did a normal on-set day look like for you? What did you do?

JS: Well, I was usually first there in the mornings because of my prosthetic make-up. The make-up and wig would take anywhere from two and a half to four hours, which is a long time to be sitting in a chair! But the prosthetic artists were so amazing, and we really got to know each other well, which I’m sure you can imagine. When it was close to the time for me to start filming, they would fit my contact lenses in, which took a lot of getting used to. I’ve never worn contacts, and these were quite large, so my eyes watered a lot. Then, right before we were ready to roll camera, my teeth were put in. At the end of the day, it took about forty-five minutes to get the prosthetics off, and let me tell you, those hot towels on my face after a long day of wearing prosthetic pieces felt like absolute heaven.

SG-P: How was the atmosphere on set? Most of the guest stars tell us, that it is really a blast to work there because it’s always funny and the catering is good.

JS: The catering is awesome, yes! The best breakfast sandwich I’ve ever had! Seriously, everyone was really wonderful. When people enjoy their job, it’s just so much easier to get through a long day, and these people seemed like they really loved being there.

SG-P: I assume you’ve met everyone from the main , how were they?

JS: I’ve met almost everyone, with the exception of Torri, who I didn’t have any scenes with. They’re all really great, really funny, always cracking jokes and making fun of each other. No one had big egos or anything like that, and they made it a real pleasure.

SG-P: Did you also meet some of the Stargate SG-1 actors as they are filming right next door? JS: No, I didn’t get to meet anyone from SG-1, unfortunately.

SG-P: If you remember back to your time on Atlantis - what things come to your mind? What was most rememberable?

JS: The breakfast sandwiches! No, I’m kidding. The prosthetics people come to mind first of all, since we spent so much time with each other. They were so great to me, so understanding of how uncomfortable the pieces were, and the contacts, the teeth, etc. I remember them being incredibly sweet.

SG-P: Would you like to return to Stargate Atlantis? Have you been asked?

JS: Of course I would love to return! To be honest, I’d love to do something without the prosthetics and just play someone who looks more like me!

SG-P: As already said above you have a long list of credits. Where would you like to be in the business in 5 years - is there anything you’ve dreamed of and want to achive?

JS: If, in five years, I’m still challenged as an actor, and still getting to do what I really love, then I’m pretty happy with that. I’d love to do everything and anything that challenged me.

SG-P: Are you involved in any other projects right now? What can you tell us about them, so our readers can look out for you in other films and/or television series?

JS: "Serenity" has its theatrical release in North America next month, and a European release a little later on in the fall. That film is based on a sci-fi series I did called "Firefly". If all goes well, there will be a sequel, and possibly a third. I play a space-ship mechanic called "Kaylee".

SG-P: Thanks very much Jewel!