Hugely inspiring and all around amazing person and actress Jade Ewen portrays global icon Mariah Carey in the third and final installment of Netflix’s hugely successful original series ‘Luis Miguel’.

Jade Ewen joins Diego Boneta (who plays Luis Miguel) as we watch how the relationship between Luis and Mariah unfolds. The third and final season of the series is now available on Netflix with new episodes available every Friday. 

We recently caught up with our latest cover star, the sensational Jade to discuss her latest role and how she got to where she is today:

Hi Jade! Thank you for joining us on ReVamp! Before delving into your phenomenal acting journey, I would like to ask what initially brought you into the world of entertainment? 

My parents are my biggest influencers and biggest source of inspiration. Both parents are registered blind; my father is completely blind and my mum’s partially sighted but they both love music. There’s always been a wide variety and range of music in my house whilst I was growing up so I’ve always been around it.

My dad was the person who suggested that I go for dance lessons at my local dance school in London when I was about three or four years old and I just loved it! I knew from a very early age that this is what I wanted to do and what I was born to do, I always felt like it made me have a real sense of purpose. 

At ten years old, I auditioned for the London children’s ballet (which was a production under the Peacock Theater) and I absolutely loved it. It was my first time being on stage and being involved with such a high level production. I then went onto audition for west end production ‘The Lion King’ and I secured the role of Young Nala. I was 11 and I had to act, sing and dance on stage and it was at that moment that I knew I wanted to do this forever. I auditioned and won a scholarship to Sylvia Young Theatre School, I trained there for 5 years and it gave me a brilliant grounding in all three disciplines (singing, acting and dancing).

I’m best known for music so it’s been such a great experience to play Mariah (Carey) in this production of Luis Miguel because I’ve been given the chance to ignite my love of acting, which ironically was what I loved most at the start of my career. 

Huge congratulations on playing Mariah Carey in the Netflix original series ‘Luis Miguel’. What made you want to do the project? 

Initially I was looking at the project completely from the point of view of Jade the actress rather than Jade the person. I didn’t know much about Luis Miguel or his incredible life journey, they sent me the script and all I knew was that it was ‘a really popular show in Latin America’ and it had over 60 million views on season 1. There wasn’t really any mention about who I was specifically going to play, on the script it just said ‘popstar’.

I researched the show, watched the first season and fell in love with it. I thought it was fantastic, especially the quality of the cast and the level of musicianship. I knew it would be an honor to be involved but it was only when I arrived in Mexico ahead of filming that I knew I would be playing Mariah Carey.

My storyline focuses on the relationship Mariah had with Luis Miguel. The pair dated for three years and it’s a relationship that has been kept very private. I went to Mexico for the premiere and the fans went crazy for it, it was amazing. 

Was there anything that you added to the role of 'Mariah' that wasn’t originally in the script? How much research did you do ahead of filming?

As a fan of Mariah, I was very familiar with her work but I wanted to do my homework so I understood more about her on a personal level. She launched her biography around the same time which was a great coincidence as I was able to use that as a reference point. I felt like there was a lot about her life, early childhood and how she got to where she was that wasn’t so well known. 

It was really good for me to speak with the team on the ground as the whole concept of the series was to tell the story from Luis Miguel’s perspective. It was quite interesting because like anything in life, people have two different versions of the way they felt the events went. I had to be mindful of the fact that even if it was something that I felt might not necessarily be Mariah’s choice or Mariah’s view on how the situation went, we’re telling the story through the lens of Luis Miguel so it was great fun to be playing around with it.

When it came to dialogue, the team encouraged us to have input and improvise which was great. We were allowed to embellish or improvise in certain situations which was a good challenge for me since I had to do an American accent too! Normally, when you’re learning the script, you learn the lines in the accent so it’s much harder to spontaneously say things without practicing the accent first and nailing the scene in the first take! But I really enjoyed it. 

How was the creative process? Did you face any challenges while trying to portray the character? If so, how did you overcome them?

It was more about overcoming any preconceived ideas of Mariah, both my own but also in anticipation of what the fans might say because like I mentioned earlier, we feel like we already know her. But in reality, we only know Mariah ‘The entertainer’. Through research, you start to get a clearer idea of who the person behind the artist is and it ends up being a completely different woman compared to the artist we think we know. People will expect to see someone imitating her mannerisms but it's really important that the performances feel truthful. The performances have to feel authentic and not like an impression or an impersonation otherwise it just devalues it.

The main challenge was to get the balance right between Mariah the icon, who we all know publicly and the personal Mariah, who we don’t really know. I used a bit of creative license to humanize her and round off her character and it also helped that it was a biopic rather than a documentary. 

What sort of reactions do you aim to take away from your fans regarding this project?

I’ve been really surprised so far with the response from the fans. Mariah’s fanbase is huge as you can imagine and so everyone has just embraced it! I’ve had nothing but love and support and it’s been a really pleasant surprise to me, as it was huge shoes to fill. 

Do you have any acting rituals? How do you prepare yourself before finally going in-front of the camera?

With any role you always want to make sure you have a good knowledge of the character. You have to do all the background work and make sure they are a well rounded person. I really like to immerse myself in the role so I guess it's really putting yourself into that space, everything from the fashion, hair, make-up and the music - you want to immerse yourself in that world as much as possible.

These things have a huge impact on bringing your character to life and help you deliver a really convincing portrayal of them. I like to sit down with the director and the team too; everyone from the writers, other actors and crew so when it comes to the shoot we all feel like we’re pulling in the same direction to ensure we can deliver a fantastic portrayal.

If given the chance, who would you love to work and collaborate with in the future?

With regards to who I would like to work with in the future, I don’t have one specific person. I feel like I’m entering a new phase in my life where I’m embracing all of my skill sets and past experiences that have gone before me. My main goal right now is to share the real Jade with everyone. I’ve had some incredible highlights in my career to date. 

I’m excited to share Jade the artist with everyone as I feel I haven’t had the opportunity to do that yet. Down the line I would like to revisit music and perhaps the next time I do, I’ll be writing my own material and singing the songs I always dreamt I’d be singing. For now I definitely want to continue with my screen work as I absolutely love Film and T.V.

What’s next for you, Jade? Any upcoming projects that you’d like to tell your fans about?

I believe everything happens for a reason so I’m keeping my mind open and see what happens! I’m one of those people who just goes with the flow and trusts it. It always works out the way it is supposed to in the end. 

Lastly, is there any message that you would like to convey to your fans?

Well, yes! Please go and check out the third and final season of 'Luis Miguel'. It’s currently available on Netflix with new episodes releasing every Friday for three weeks. It’s a fantastic story and you should absolutely check out the first two seasons too because they’re brilliant and the cast is phenomenal! There’s a couple of surprises in there for you too! So, if you’re a fan of my music or of me, you should wait for the final episode to hear me sing!

I hope you’re enjoying it and thank you so much for supporting me!