14 year old Jordan Nash, stars in this year’s John Lewis Christmas 2021 Advert – ‘An Unexpected Guest’.
The multi-talented North Londoner, who has already starred in several Hollywood movies, Jordan received a best supporting young actor nomination at the Young Entertainer Awards 2019 for his role in the feature film Aladdin. For his role as the lead in Oliver: Lagos to London, he won Best Debut Performance in the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2021 this past March.
Jordan recently starred in the lead role of Peter Pan in Come Away along with Angelina Jolie, David Oyelowo and Michael Caine. For this performance, he recently received a Skyline Performer Award for Feature Film Lead and a Young Artist Academy Award (“Youth Oscars”) for Best Actor in A Lead Role – the first Black British Actor to receive the award. Jordan currently has a recurring role on the Sky One television series Breeders.
ALT:
Good morning Jordan, really lovely to meet you. Thank you so much in advance for talking to ALT A Review. Firstly, I just wanted to say congratulations on getting the John Lewis advert, can you tell me a bit about how exciting that is?
Jordan:
I was probably as excited as you were. I mean, how excited were you about the advert coming out, did you know about it?
ALT:
I didn’t actually know about it beforehand, but obviously when someone contacted me, I was thrilled, it’s really good. I really like the advert. What’s it like doing that?
Jordan:
The advert was a really fun experience to be honest. I didn’t expect it to feel like it was filming a film. I’ve done so many different commercials, I don’t want to brag or anything, but I’ve done so many. So, I just thought, oh, it’s just a John Lewis commercial because previously I haven’t seen any of the other John Lewis commercials. Then, when I was actually on set, it was two weeks we were filming, and it was really cool. The director Mark Molloy was really cool. I picked up an ‘Australian accent, you know, how you doing buddy?’ The Director of Photography (DOP) Greig Fraser, he was absolutely phenomenal. He’s the cinematographer on the movie Dune and the new Batman film, which is coming out. That was really cool and it looks really great. So, yeah, it was a really fun experience, one of my favourite parts was being blown over by snow, which actually was fibre. So, the scene where I throw the snowballs and then Skye (Raffiella Chapman) presses the button with her pinky finger with magical powers and I get blown by snow. It was annoying as its fibre and so it goes in your eyes, your hair. After each take, I’d have to be patted down with a wet wipe, which is so frustrating!
ALT:
Let’s talk about your acting career, you’ve worked with people like David Oyelowo in Come Away , how did you get into acting?
Jordan:
I don’t know, to be honest!
ALT:
What made you decide to become an actor? Is it something you saw or something you like?
Jordan:
I wasn’t even a TV bug at the age of four years old! I was just interested in playing with my cars. When I started acting, I went to drama school, and I just saw it as play time. Then I got my first role in a movie called Dom Hemingway with Jude Law. Of course, I didn’t know who Jude Law was at the time. Now I do, I’m aware of these superstars and yeah, I have just continued doing it since then. It’s not something I was aware of starting.
ALT:
So which drama school did you go to?
Jordan:
I can’t remember which one I started going to first, but I have been to the Young Actors Theatre Islington, YATI, I also went to Sylvia Youngs Theatre School and The Central School of Speech and Drama. However, I haven’t been back since the pandemic sadly.
ALT:
Wonderful. You mentioned that you’ve worked with Jude Law. Do you have a favourite actor that you’ve worked with?
Jordan:
I liked Will Smith. Angelina Jolie was also cool to hang out with off-set because she has kids, right? We went to an arcade, we had so much fun and then went to her house. She had a massive tree house. I’d never actually been in a tree house before that, so she and the kids were really cool to hang out with. I also don’t have an actor I’d like to work with, I’d love to work with my dad. I know it sounds corny and I don’t want to sound cheesy or anything, but it would be my dad. I haven’t worked with him on a proper TV series or a feature film yet, but I’d love to do that.
ALT:
As you’ve been to different countries to do your filming, do you have a favourite city that you’ve been to so far?
Jordan:
Without doubt, it’s definitely Los Angeles. I like Los Angeles, filming Come Away was my first time going there. I did the typical stuff, you know, Universal Studios, Disneyland. Have you been yourself before?
ALT:
Yes, not to Disneyland! I’ve been to China Town. I’ve been to the Marina del Rey, etc
Jordan:
Yeah, LA is definitely my favourite.
ALT:
How does it feel when your friends see you on TV? And how do they respond?
Jordan:
I mean, I’ve never actually asked them about it. They don’t even tell me about it. It’s like it’s a big secret that we all know about. It’s just something I do. One of my friend’s friends is really excited about it. He is always asking me over zoom, he’ll tell my friend and my friend will ask me the questions he’s been asking him. But yeah, I mean, I just chill with them anyway, we play video games.
ALT:
As a young person and as we are just coming out of the pandemic, how has the pandemic made you feel in any way?
Jordan:
I feel like when the pandemic started, I thought, okay, the year’s written off, but to my surprise, I actually got quite a lot of work. I was involved in a radio play, I also got a role in a TV series called Breeders, I played Jacob in season two. That’s good to watch it if you haven’t seen it. I also had a couple of roles, one was in Becoming Elizabeth, that’s going to come out soon, I’m not exactly sure when. And I starred in the TV series The Great, which aired last week in the States on Hulu. So, as I said, I have got a lot of work. Of course, the pandemic has affected lots of people, but thankfully, now stuff is starting to pick up again. And so, yeah, I’m just looking forward to the years ahead.
ALT:
What’s the best thing about you being an actor?
Jordan:
The traveling for sure! I can’t get over going to LA to be honest. Where else have I been? I just recently went to Canada. I went to Toronto to film a TV series. It’s a new sci-fi TV series. It’s on a major streaming platform, though I can’t mention what it is yet. It’s going to come out some time around next summer. Traveling is my favourite part, and the catering is also great, especially on Aladdin. They had these mango smoothies, every day on set I’d make sure I’d go to that catering truck and grab a mango smoothie, maybe even twice a day because I love mangoes. Absolutely love mangoes.
ALT:
What would you say to any young actors or actresses who want to do what you do?
Jordan:
I would just say to keep on going. Just keep on dreaming and you know, persevering. In acting you might do 30 auditions and you’ll get one of those, but you don’t give up. I’ve had so many rejections. You have to be thick-skinned to progress in this industry. So just keep on auditioning and your time will come.
ALT:
Just one, one final question. Where do you call home? London? Los Angeles?
Jordan:
My dad is adamant Los Angeles is home, but England feels like home for me still, because I live in England, and I was born in England. I currently live in north London, so that’s home for me, but of course I’m free to go anywhere to an extent…
ALT:
Jordan, thank you so much for talking to ALT A REVIEW really appreciated.
Jordan:
Thank you so much.
