Jamie Lever, daughter of veteran comedian Johny Lever, has opened up about a shocking experience early in her career where she was asked to strip during a fake audition over a video call. Believing she was being considered for an international project, Jamie soon realised it was a scam—and the incident left her “petrified”.
Jamie recalls her fake audition
Jamie shared that during the initial phase of her career, she didn’t have a manager and was handling all casting calls herself. Since her contact details were shared among various casting agents, she received a call from someone claiming to be auditioning for a global film.
“They asked if I would like to audition. Such opportunities are a big deal for us so I hopped on to it and said yes,” Jamie said in a conversation with Zoom.
She was told the audition would take place on a video call with the film’s director. No script was shared in advance, they claimed the performance needed to be improvised.
When Jamie Lever was asked to strip
On the video call, Jamie noticed something odd, the supposed director refused to switch on his video, saying he was “in transit.” He then explained that she was being considered for a “bold” role and asked her to perform a seductive scene aimed at an older man, encouraging her to strip.
“They said that you imagine there is a 50-year-old man in front of you and you are trying to woo this man, and eventually, there is an intimate scene,” she recalled. “I said, ‘I am not very comfortable with this. When there is a script I will follow that’. They said, ‘There is no script, it is improvised so if you want to strip or if you want to say something or if you want to do something else, feel free to do that’.”
Jamie immediately declined. “I said ‘Strip? No one told me about that. I am not comfortable doing this’. They said, ‘But this is a very big project and we really want to cast you, it’s a big opportunity for you’. I said, ‘But sir, if you are expecting me to strip on this video call, I am not comfortable doing this and I wasn’t informed about it’. Then I said, ‘I don’t even feel comfortable talking to you right now’ and then I quickly switched off the video.”
“It could’ve been a massive scam”
After ending the call, Jamie realised just how dangerous the situation could have been. “That’s when I realised that this could be such a big scam because had I done anything innocently, they could have made a video out of it, they could have harassed me and a lot of other things could have happened,” she said.
Jamie said the experience shook her deeply, especially since the impersonators likely knew she was Johny Lever’s daughter. “Even thinking about it is scary,” she added. “It was a blessing that I had the presence of mind to get out when I did.”