Although we now know Jamie Dornan for his global stardom as Christian Grey, or even as serial killer Paul Spector in The Fall, it seem he first started out in reality TV.
The actor was being interviewed on Sirius XM’s Radio Andy were he spoke about his early career. Jamie revealed that he had appeared on a Channel 4 series back in 2001 called Model Behaviour.
“This was sort of almost pre-reality TV. It wasn’t even being pitched to us. We didn’t really know what it was.”
Like a UK version of America’s Next Top Model (although it looks a LOT less glamorous) it saw aspiring models battle it out to win a one-year modelling contract with a top agency.
Speaking about the show, Jamie shared that he was just 20 at the time; “The truth behind that is, I’d been at university for a year, I was very sporty and I was playing rugby at uni and drinking a lot.”
“And I decided I was going to drop out of university ‘cause … it wasn’t the right space for me at the time. And I was like, ‘F**k this. I’m going to like do something else in my life,’ but I didn’t have a plan.”
The Belfast actor continued; “My dad was really worrying, like, ‘What’s your plan going to be?’ And it was just one of those weird things at that time, my whole family were sort of gunning together, trying to work out what can Jamie do next.”
He then revealed that his sister was actually the one who encouraged him to apply for the show; “And I was like, ‘Why would I want to be a model?’… No kid where I’m from grows up wanting to be a model, I’ll tell you that. So, I was like, ‘No, I’m not doing it.’”
Despite revealing that he didn’t do so well on the program Jamie shared that it did get him to make the big move to London; “Then like two months later I had moved to London and had convinced everyone to let me follow some dream…”
“I mean I never wanted to be a model, I hated it, but I had acted at school so it felt like a bit of a gateway into that […] it was a crazy time.”
Despite cringing at the video Jamie revealed that it was an important point for him in becoming an actor; “I wouldn’t be sat here if he hadn’t got out of bed that day, I truly mean that.”
“I would have worked out something else, I would have been a real estate agent, I honestly would have found something else to do.”
