Jazmyn Simon – Ballers

By: Lisa Steinberg

Q) What are the recent projects that you are working on?

A) I just did “Ballers” and we finished that up a couple months ago. I’ve actually signed on to a new project, but I can’t talk about that because they have not put out a press release.

Q) Please tell us the premise for “Ballers” and about your character Julie Greane.

A) “Ballers” is very similar to “Entrougae” in the aspect of showing you a behind the curtain look at the people that you love. “Entourage” was about actors and our show is about athletes. It’s about the lives of professional football players off of the field. It shows you what they do, how they live and their family lives. My character is Dr. Julie Greane and she is married to a professional football player. When you think of the wife of a professional football player you automatically have the idea of a stereotype in your head and I think Julie breaks those stereotypes. She is very smart and she is very ambitious. She has her own education and her own thing going on. She’s a doctor so she kind of wears the pants in her family. The writers and creators of “Ballers” really made her a strong woman. So, you get to see a breath of fresh air with this women married to an athlete. She’s strong, beautiful, smart and sassy.

Q) What made you want to be a part of the show?

A) Initially, when I got the notice to audition it was HBO. Above all things, HBO shows are the best on TV. They are classy, smart, well written and well produced. So, HBO was what drew me first and then secondly was Dwayne Johnson. It’s not every day that you get to work with the biggest movie star on the planet and Dwayne is – I would say – the biggest movie on the planet. Those two things were a pretty big draw. On top of that was Stephen Levinson, Mark Wahlberg and Peter Berg. All of those things kind of sweetened the pot.

Q) What have you added to your role that wasn’t originally scripted for you?

A) A lot of times they gave me the liberty to ad lib where I can and where it makes sense. The writing is so good and you don’t want to take away from good writers because they are award winning writers. These writers have written on a lot of other things, including “Entourage.” So, I don’t want to think I can do it better than them because they are the writers, but they do hire me to do a specific job and that is to bring life to Julie. So, every now and then I throw in something that is not on the page because I feel like that is who she is and I am bringing life to her. A couple of times people have asked me about the show and I’ll say, “Did I say that? That wasn’t written. I must have just thrown that in.” There are a couple of zingers that I got to add in throughout the season.

Q) There is a great cast to the show. Was there instant chemistry when you began working with costar Dwayne Johnson?

A) Dwayne is just one of the most incredible people that I have ever had the honor of knowing. He makes you feel very comfortable very quickly. He is one of those people who is so courageous that when he walks in the room everybody automatically feels comfortable. So, it didn’t take a lot of time to build anything with Dwayne because he is such a great person in front of the camera and off screen, behind the camera.

Q) You filmed in Miami. How does the location play a part in the show?

A) Miami does not suck when it comes to locations. It’s one of the prettiest places in the United States. So, it was a great honor to be able to shoot there. It’s a sexy place. It’s a sexy environment. The people are sexy. It’s a gorgeous environment. Having the show shot in Miami only added to the ambiance of the show. It just kind of goes with what we’re doing. When you think of athletes, they have a lot of money so you know that a lot of sexiness going on there. Miami gave it to us! Miami was great. A lot of professional athletes live in Miami and a lot of them hail from Miami. So, it’s not about how it plays a part in the show, it’s realistic. A lot of the people that I know who play in the NFL and play professional sports live in Miami. It’s just where it is set because it is realistic. It’s really pretty and that’s where a lot of professional athletes and people with money live. Los Angeles is beautiful and is filled with rich people and fancy cars, but it didn’t make sense to do it there because we don’t have a professional football team. Miami had a lot of things that we needed and Dwayne lives in South Florida.

Q) What have you found the most challenging aspect of your role?

A) I don’t think that my role was challenging whatsoever because it is so well written. It wasn’t like they wrote something unattainable for me. They wrote it for someone like me to do it. Especially with the pilot, it was so good that I loved it. Then, after I booked it, they wrote it for me. So, it wasn’t hard at all. I think one of the great things about the show is that it was shot in Miami. One of the most challenging things was that it was shot in Miami because I don’t live in Miami. I think one of the things that was challenging was shooting in Miami because it took me four months to get used to the time change. I don’t know what it was, but I could not get used to the time change. I was up until like 2am because I was not sleepy. My body was still stuck on Los Angeles time. The work wasn’t challenging. It was great to go to work every day. I really do admire the people that I got to work with and we had some of the best directors to work with. Like I mentioned before, the actors are amazing. Work was the easy part. The time difference was the hard part.

Q) What were some of your memorable moments from filming?

A) I’m not at liberty to discuss things that happened in front of the camera yet. One of the most memorable things was that at this point in the season, I was the only female season regular. It was me and a bunch of guys. I didn’t know how that was going to be, but I loved those guys! Every day I was going to lunch or dinner with someone from the cast or crew. So, the most memorable moment from beyond making, in my opinion, an award winning show was the comradery and relationships I had off screen with the guys that I worked with. I can’t say enough good things about those guys. They are just an elite group of actors that I had the honor and privilege to work with and they made my stay in Miami the best. They took care of me and looked out for me. I was definitely the little sister on set, which was great.

Q) You are a part of social media. Are you looking forward to the instant fan response you will be receiving?

A) Everybody is asking me that. One of my producers said to take a screen shot the day before the show comes out and take one a couple of days after the show premieres and see how crazy it gets. I love people so I’m definitely looking forward to people actually getting to see it. I think I will take it as it comes. I think I will take it all in stride. As many good things come from social media, sometimes people can be ugly as well. Social media gets the content out there and gets the word out there, but sometimes people can be mean. I’m looking forward to the good and not necessarily the bad. I’m looking forward though to talking to the fans and getting them excited as the episode start to roll out.

Q) Is there anything else you want to be sure fans know about “Ballers?”

A) One of my good girlfriends texted me and said, “Oh my gosh! My husband is so looking forward to the show! I’m looking forward to it because you are on it, but my husband is looking forward to it because it is sports themed.” Guys love sports. So, I want to tell them that there are three groups of people that are going to love this show: 1) People that love sports. If you are a sports fan in any way you are going to love the show because it does deal with professional athletes. 2) If you could care less about sports, you are going to love this show because it is so well written and it is not about sports. It’s about relationships. The foundation of any good show is relationships and our show has so many great relationships going on that people are going to love these characters. 3) If you love Dwayne, you are going to love this show! If you fall into any of those categories then you are going to love this show. Set your DVR because we have a lot of great things going on. Don’t think you will get bored if you don’t like football because it is not just about that!