Jasmine Jobson was the star of Sunday night’s BAFTAs, taking home the coveted Best Supporting Actress award for her role as Jacqueline Lawrence in Netflix’s Top Boy.
She was the surprise success story of the night, fighting off competition from the likes of Elizabeth Debicki (The Crown), Harriet Walter (Succession) and Siobhan Finneran (‘Happy Valley’).
The stunning star almost burst into tears after her win as she turned heads in a beautiful white and silver dress.
At a press conference after the awards ceremony, the actress, who had already been nominated three times before finally claiming her award, said her role in Top Boy had “changed her life” and means acting can now ” Pay your bills”.
His comments appeared to be a nod to his difficult past, which has seen Jobson face numerous difficulties on his path to acting.
Jasmine Jobson was the star of Sunday night’s BAFTAs, taking home the coveted Best Supporting Actress award for her role as Jacqueline Lawrence in Netflix’s Top Boy.
Jasmine, 29, said: ‘It has been a life-changing job for me.
“I was just a normal girl from west London just trying to do better and hoping and hoping for the best.
‘And one day I went from working in a bar full-time and acting part-time to suddenly acting full-time and now acting pays my bills. Then Top Boy changed my life.’
Many expected Elizabeth Debicki, who plays Princess Diana in The Crown, to win Best Supporting Actress, but the show was left without an award, despite eight nominations.
Jasmine joined Top Boy for series three in 2019 when it moved from Channel 4 to Netflix, as a member of drug dealers Summerhouse in Hackney.
The crime drama series, which features rapper Drake as executive producer, ended after five series last September with a shocking final scene.
Jasmine’s rise to fame has not been easy. She was once known to social services as “the most difficult girl in Westminster” and she previously admitted that she fell in with the “wrong crowd” when she was a teenager.
As a child, Jasmine grew up in the Harrow Road area of London when her mother saw her theatrical potential and enrolled her in Paddington Arts, a performance group for young children.
Glamorous Jasmine, 29, was the surprise winner of Sunday night’s BAFTAs and had previously been nominated for the award three times.
Jasmine has had a difficult past and was placed in foster care at the age of 14 in a bid for a better life.
Jasmine joined Top Boy in 2019 when she moved to Netflix as Jacqueline Lawrence.
Even from such a young age, Jasmine was already a star, playing Mary in her first year Nativity play at school and later playing Romeo in Romeo and Juliet.
But in year eight, circumstances forced her to move in with her grandmother and she began to get involved with the wrong group of people and, like her Top Boy character, began selling cannabis.
She previously said The evening standard: ‘My behavior used to be what you would call a neighborhood rat. I was selling drugs and causing problems with the police on the streets, but I could see that my behavior was hurting people. Since being in care I have been 100 percent in control.
‘I ended up getting my GCSEs, I wouldn’t have done them if it hadn’t been for my foster carer. I had to go into care to save myself.
“I was portrayed as the most difficult child in Westminster, that’s what social services told me.”
Jasmine, 14, made the brave decision to put herself in foster care and moved to West Drayton.
There, his adoptive mother Valerie gave him stability for more than four years. During this time, she met Maggie Norris, founder of the Big House arts center in Islington, which works with young people to help them change their lives.
The center taught her many skills and helped her work on her acting. She starred on Big House’s The Realness and was signed by an agent within three weeks.
The stunning star nearly burst into tears after her win as she turned heads in a gorgeous white and silver dress (pictured accepting her award).
Elizabeth Debicki, who plays Princess Diana in The Crown, was expected to win Best Supporting Actress.
Jasmine was once known as the “most difficult girl in Westminster” by social services.
Jasmine appears as a teenager when she was involved with the Big House theater company.
The experiences helped her learn to channel her emotions into action rather than expressing them in more harmful ways.
This was clearly demonstrated in her final audition for Top Boy: Jasmine has often told the story of how she threw a chair across the room to stand out from the crowd.
Valerie died when Jasmine was 19 and had to return to the area of London where she had previously had problems.
But a good social worker fought hard for her and managed to get her a council house in Westminster, where she could concentrate on her acting.
In Top Boy, Jasmine’s character Jaq begins a romance with Becks, played by Adwoa Aboah, and takes in her pregnant sister Lauryn to protect her from her abusive boyfriend.
But after Lauryn dies from an overdose in the bathroom, Jaq decides to leave the life of a dealer and run away with Becks and his nephew.
In October last year, Jasmine went Instagram official with her co-star boyfriend Kadeem Ramsay, who plays Kit on the show, but was forced to turn off comments due to trolling on her post.
Jasmine shared a photo of the couple kissing during a romantic trip to Champillon, France, and captioned her post: “You can’t sit with us.”
Jasmine’s character Jaq is a lesbian and it seems some fans also believed she was gay in real life as she emphasized that she is an actress playing a role.
She wrote: ‘I am an ACTRESS. My job is to play dress up and pretend. I take a script and make it nice for your eyes to see.
‘I am also a HUMAN BEING, LIKE ALL OF YOU, just living my life. Be kind.’
Top Boy came to an end in September 2023 after five seasons, after Jasmine (pictured on the show) joined in 2019.
Jasmine is dating her Top Boy co-star Kadeem Ramsay, who plays Kit on the show (pictured together in November).
This year, Jasmine will star in Andrea Arnold’s Bird alongside Saltburn’s Barry Keoghan.
Jasmine is so central to the show that creator Ronan Bennett has even confirmed that he is in talks with Netflix about a spin-off centered on Jasmine’s character Jaq.
The actress has also starred in Good Thanks, You? a short film where she plays a 16-year-old girl traumatized by a sexual assault.
She appeared in the psychological thriller Surge alongside James Bond’s Ben Whishaw as Lily, while both played guards who operate X-ray machines.
In a previous interview with the Daily Mail, he said he enjoys projects with a message, especially if that message concerns a topic that is “taboo”, and described his work ethic as “grabbing the bull by the horns.” .and run with it’.
This year, Jasmine will star in Andrea Arnold’s Bird alongside Saltburn’s Barry Keoghan.