Jayma Mays

Jamia Suzette "Jayma" Mays is an American actress born on July 16, 1979. She was raised in Grundy, Virginia, by her mother, Susan Paulette (née Norris), and her father, James Edwin Mays, a high school teacher who also worked in the coal mining industry. At age 15, she was offered a job reading obituaries for a local radio station. After graduating from Grundy High School, Mays earned an associate degree from Southwest Virginia Community College, then attended Virginia Tech for a year before transferring to Radford University.

Mays made her first television appearance in 2004 on the series Joey. In 2005, she made her feature film debut with a supporting role in Red Eye. Her early television credits also include appearances on Six Feet Under, Stacked, How I Met Your Mother, Pushing Daisies, The Comeback, Entourage, Ghost Whisperer, and Ugly Betty, where she played Charlotte. In 2006, she appeared as a patient in the House episode "Sleeping Dogs Lie."

In film, Mays appeared in projects including Bar Starz, Flags of Our Fathers, and Blind Guy Driving. She starred in the spoof film Epic Movie, where she met actor Adam Campbell in 2006. She also played Amy in Paul Blart: Mall Cop and starred as Grace Winslow, the female lead in the live-action/animated movie adaptation of The Smurfs. Additionally, she appeared in the music video for Switchfoot's single "Awakening."

Mays played love interest roles opposite Masi Oka in two separate productions: as Charlie Andrews on the NBC sci-fi series Heroes from 2006 to 2010, and as Nina in the direct-to-DVD film Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd: Out of Control. She was also cast twice as a love interest for Matthew Morrison, appearing in an unaired television show titled Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office, as well as on the Fox musical series Glee.

On Glee, which premiered on May 19, 2009, Mays portrayed mysophobic guidance counsellor Emma Pillsbury. She performed the song "Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch-a Touch Me" from The Rocky Horror Show for her role audition, which she later performed as a solo in the themed episode "The Rocky Horror Glee Show." She was part of the main cast for the show's first three seasons and returned as a guest star for seasons four, five, and six through 2015.

Following her work on Glee, Mays portrayed Debbie in the sitcom The Millers from 2013 to 2014. From 2017 to 2018, she starred as prosecutor Carol Anne Keane in the NBC crime anthology comedy Trial & Error. In 2018, she appeared in an episode of Great News as Cat, the girlfriend of a character played by her husband, Adam Campbell.

In April 2021, Mays was cast in Disenchanted, the sequel to the 2007 film Enchanted, alongside Maya Rudolph and Yvette Nicole Brown. In her personal life, Mays married Adam Campbell, and she gave birth to their son on August 21, 2016. She also participated in the Ice Bucket Challenge in August 2014 to help raise awareness for ALS.