Naomi Grace Scott (born 6 May 1993) is an English actress and singer. She is best known for starring as Princess Jasmine in Disney’s musical live-action fantasy film Aladdin (2019). Scott rose to prominence for her performances in the science fiction drama series Terra Nova (2011) and the television film Lemonade Mouth (2011). She has also starred in the superhero film Power Rangers (2017) and the action comedy film Charlie’s Angels (2019).
Early life
Naomi Grace Scott was born on 6 May 1993 in Hounslow, London. She is of English and Indian descent. Her mother, Usha Joshi, who was born in Uganda and immigrated to the United Kingdom at a young age, is of Indian Gujarati descent, while her father, Christopher, is English. Scott also has an older brother, Joshua.
At eight years old, she and her family moved to Woodford in Redbridge, North East London, where both her parents were pastors at the Bridge Church. She grew up listening to gospel and R&B music, specifically singers Kim Burrell, Mary Mary and Kirk Franklin, and singing in church. She attended Davenant Foundation School in Loughton, Essex. She left the school half way through taking her A-Levels in order to pursue her role in Terra Nova.
Career
Scott was discovered by British pop singer Kéllé Bryan from the girl group Eternal, who signed her as a client. She went to work with British songwriters and producers Xenomania. In 2014, the YouTube channel “Reload” published two videos featuring her, as part of their “Reload Sessions” series.
Her first major acting role was a Disney Channel UK series Life Bites. In 2010, she was cast as Mohini “Mo” Banjaree in the 2011 Disney Channel original film Lemonade Mouth, her first role in an American production. That same year she was cast as Maddy Shannon in the science-fiction series Terra Nova, which premiered in September 2011 on Fox. The series was not renewed for a second season. In 2013, Scott appeared in the music video for the song “Hurricane”, by her Lemonade Mouth co-star Bridgit Mendler. In August 2014, she independently released her debut EP Invisible Division. Scott was cast as Ryoko in Ridley Scott’s The Martian. She filmed her scenes but most of them were removed from the final cut, effectively making her an “extra” in the film. Screen International selected Scott as one of their 2015 Stars of Tomorrow. In October, she was cast in a co-leading role as Kimberly Hart, the Pink Ranger, in Power Rangers (2017), the film adaptation of the TV series of the same name. The film was released on 24 March 2017, and earned Scott a Teen Choice Award nomination. The film was met with mixed reviews upon release and was a box office disappointment, grossing $142 million worldwide against a budget of $105 million.
The cast of Charlie’s Angels in 2019
In 2019, Scott starred as Princess Jasmine in Aladdin, a live-action adaptation of Disney’s 1992 animated film of the same name. Scott’s casting over a “Middle Eastern or Arab actress” generated controversy. In his review of the film for the San Francisco Chronicle, critic Mick LaSalle found Scott to be the “real star” of the film and that she “thrives and gives everything to her new power anthem “. The Washington Post‘s Michael O’Sullivan praised Scott’s portrayal as someone “who doesn’t just dream of escaping from under her father’s restrictive rules about whom she can marry” but is also “super-feminist”. Richard Roeper of Chicago Sun-Times described Scott’s performance as “winning” and that she “absolutely sparkles” in her performance of “Speechless”. For her performance, Scott won the Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress – Sci-Fi/Fantasy and also received a nomination for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. Aladdin was also commercially successful, grossing $1 billion at the box office.
Also in 2019, Scott starred as one of the three leads in the action comedy Charlie’s Angels, the third installment within the franchise of the same name. The film was released in November. The film received mixed reviews from critics. She will appear in the science fiction film Distant. She is also attached to star as a “parliamentary researcher” in the web television anthology series Anatomy of a Scandal.
Personal life
Scott is a Christian. She is a UK ambassador to the Christian charity organisation Compassion International, sponsoring children and families living in poverty. She suffers from the skin condition eczema.
In June 2014, Scott married English footballer Jordan Spence after four years of dating. The couple met at church when she was 16.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | The 33 | Escarlette Sepulveda Valdivia | |
| The Martian | Ryoko | Deleted scene; extended version only | |
| 2017 | Power Rangers | Kimberly “Kim” Hart / Pink Ranger | |
| 2019 | Aladdin | Princess Jasmine | |
| Charlie’s Angels | Elena Houghlin | ||
| TBA | Distant | TBA | Post-production |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008–2009 | Life Bites | Megan | Main role |
| 2011 | Lemonade Mouth | Mohini “Mo” Banjaree | Television film |
| Terra Nova | Maddy Shannon | Main role | |
| 2013 | By Any Means | Vanessa Velasquez | Episode: “3” |
| 2015–2016 | Lewis | Sahira Desai | Recurring role (season 9) |
| 2019 | Ru’s Angels | Elena Houghlin | Short film |
Discography
Extended plays
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| Invisible Division |
|
| Promises |
|
Singles
As main artist
| Title | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| “Say Nothing” | 2014 | Invisible Division |
| “Motions” | ||
| “Lover’s Lies” | 2016 | Promises |
| “Vows” | 2017 | non-album single |
| “Irrelevant” (featuring Nick Brewer) |
2018 | |
| “So Low / Undercover” |
As featured artist
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US |
US Heat |
UK |
|||||||||
| “Breakthrough” (as part of Lemonade Mouth cast) |
2011 | 88 | 11 | 200 | Lemonade Mouth | ||||||
| “Fall From Here” (Nick Brewer featuring Naomi Scott) |
2014 | — | — | — | Four Miles Further | ||||||
| “You Say” (Favela featuring Naomi Scott) |
2019 | — | — | — | non-album single | ||||||
| “—” denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | |||||||||||
Other appearances
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JPN |
KOR |
UK |
US Bub. |
|||
| “She’s So Gone” | 2011 | — | — | — | 3 | Lemonade Mouth |
| “More Than a Band” (as part of Lemonade Mouth cast) |
— | — | — | — | ||
| “Livin’ on a High Wire” (as part of Lemonade Mouth cast) |
— | — | — | — | ||
| “Speechless (Part 1)” | 2019 | — | — | — | — | Aladdin (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) |
| “A Whole New World” (with Mena Massoud) |
19 | 13 | — | — | ||
| “Speechless (Part 2)” | — | — | — | — | ||
| “Speechless (Full)” | 40 | 5 | 73 | 23 | ||
| “—” denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | ||||||
Music videos
| Title | Year | Artist(s) | Director | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| As lead artist | ||||
| “Motions” | 2014 | Naomi Scott | Peter Szewczyk | |
| “Lover’s Lies” | 2017 | Naomi Scott | Daniel Cummings | |
| “Vows” | Naomi Scott | Naomi Scott | ||
| “Speechless” | 2019 | Naomi Scott | ||
| As featured artist | ||||
| “Fall From Here” | 2014 | Nick Brewer | Matthew Walker | |
| Guest appearances | ||||
| “Hurricane” | 2013 | Bridgit Mendler | Robert Hales | |
As a director
| Title | Year | Artist(s) | Co-director | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| “Forget You” | 2019 | Nick Brewer | Jordan Spence |
Awards and nominations
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Power Rangers | Teen Choice Awards | Choice Sci-Fi Movie Actress | Nominated | |
| 2019 | Aladdin | Teen Choice Awards | Choice Sci-Fi/Fantasy Movie Actress | Won | |
| Saturn Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Nominated |