Jewel Staite, actress, born June 2, 1982.
Jewel was born in White Rock,
British Columbia, but lived for the first four years of her life in
Maui,
Hawaii.
At four years of age, Jewel moved to Vancouver. Jewel was approached for a modeling gig after a photo session at a
Sears Portrait Studio. Although refusing at first, Jewel later wanted to model in order to get all the clothes that she would end up modelling (rather than getting paid in toys as originally offered).
Jewel trained for acting for several days a week for years at the
Vancouver Youth Theatre. She progressed from modeling to commercials, and from commercials into fairly large television roles.
Jewel also is seen as an excellent actress with everyone she works with, because she doesn't play a character - she
is a character. In her words: "“I love acting because it allows me to be as many different people as my imagination can conceptualize, and I can spill my guts, bare my soul and be a bitch without actually offending anyone in the real world.”
Something of note: "at fourteen, Jewel was the first to go mouth-to-mouth with
David Duchovny on
The X Files" (from her official website's biography).
Jewel was first brought to the attention of adolescent geeks in the show
Space Cases, as the rainbow-colored Catalina. She left in the second season (which the writers explained as a result of Catalina going to an alternate dimension) in order for her to work on the show
Flash Forward (which she moved to Toronto for, for two years). This was through no choice of her own: the Flash Forward pilot episodes were filmed by Disney before that of Space Cases. When Flash Forward was given the
greenlight, Jewel was obligated to go join that show, simply because Disney had '
dibs'.
In
2002, Jewel went to work on the
Joss Whedon show of
Firefly. Although she immensely enjoying acting on the show, and becoming good friends with the ensemble cast (co-star
Morena Baccarin was Jewel's maid of honor at her wedding), FOX cancelled the series after only showing 11 episodes (see:
Why Fox cancelled Firefly).
Jewel married
Matt Anderson on April 25, 2003.
In 2004, Jewel and the Firefly crew met again on the set of
Serenity, a film continuation of the series. Jewel said of the experience, (and many other cast members agreed) that "it was like no time had passed". The film further developed Jewel's character of Kaylee (she gets some of the
best lines in the film), especially her relationship with
Simon Tam.
There was a minor complaint about the role of Kaylee in the movie: she was skinnier. This was because, for the Firefly series, Joss had Jewel gain 15 lbs. for the role. As it became clear that Firefly would not be coming back, Jewel lost the added weight naturally. When the film was being created, Joss told Jewel that she didn't need to worry about gaining the weight again - it's not like the role would go to anyone else. Jewel enjoyed this, because she has stated that she felt sluggish, and struggled to keep on the weight. So: Serenity's Kaylee is the natural body type of Jewel.
She has worked with the
Dyslexia Foundation and several
AIDS charities, a big proponent of the fight against AIDS because her uncle had died from the disease.
Partial filmography (through 2005):
Serenity (2005) - Kaylee Frye
Widow on the Hill (2005) - Jenny Cavanaugh
Cheats (2002) - Teddy Blue the Curser
Firefly (2002) - Kaylee Frye
Damaged Care (2002) - Bryanna
Roughing It (2002) - Susan Olivia Clemens
Higher Ground (2000) - Daisy Lipenowski
Da Vinci's Inquest (1998) - Gabriella Da Vinci
Mummies Alive! The Legend Begins (1998) - Additional Voices
Space Cases (1996) - Catalina
Carpool (1996) - Soap Opera Actress
Flash Forward (1996) - Rebecca "Becca" Fisher
Prisoner of Zenda, Inc. (1996) - Theresa
Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain - Samantha
The Only Way Out (1993) - Alexandra
Liar, Liar (1992) - Dorianna
Posing: Inspired by Three Real Stories (1991) - Jennifer
She has also had notable guest appearances in
The X-Files,
Honey I Shrunk The Kids: The TV Show,
Just Deal,
Wonderfalls, and
Stargate: Atlantis.
Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewel_Staite
http://www.jewel-staite.com/
http://www.radiofree.com/profiles/jewel_staite/interview02.shtml