Jai’s a tortured soul, masked by a wall of emotional apathy. He's a far cry from Summer Bay’s traditional surfer look, he has his own style and he's happy to be a loner.
Jordan Rodrigues moves to the Bay as Jai Fernandez to reconnect with Miles after the Boxing Day tsunami. He lost his family and now struggles to accept new people in his life, here is what Jordan has to say about himself and his character.
Can you tell me a bit about your background?
I am just a normal kid. I went to Knox Grammer but I left school because I got the job at Home and Away, so I’m going to start home schooling next term.
Any acting experience before Home and Away?
I performed in the musical The Lion King, I was Simba. That was pretty much my first professional acting experience. I loved it and wanted to do more so I joined an agency. They got me a lot of extra work and some commercials.
My interest in acting came from the Lion King, the sensation of performing. The Lion King was advertised in the newspaper so I just turned up and auditioned for it, so it was a good break. It went for about three years. It got a little tiring after a while, but you still learnt something new everyday. I would perform about twice a week because there were four other Simbas.
Where are you from?
I was born in Sydney but my parents are both Malaysian. They never bought me up speaking Manderin which now I sort of regret, I’d really like to learn two languages.
The character Jai is sort of like me. I’ve been living in Australia but my parents are Malaysian. Jai was bought up in Australia but went on holiday with his family to Phuket and got caught up in the Boxing Day Tsunami.
Does anyone in your family come from a performing background?
No, not really. My Dad plays guitar for fun, and my brother and sister play instruments too, but they only do it for fun too. Maybe I’ve got a long lost cousin somewhere who is a bit of a performing at heart. But really, it’s only me.
How did you get the role with Home and Away?
Through my agent. The first audition was good and then I was picked to go along to the second one. Cameron Welsh was there, and Josh and Charlotte as well.
I was really excited when I got the part. I was getting help for the audition from a friend of mine. She said I really had a good chance of getting this character because he’s so much like me in so many ways. Cameron just made me feel really comfortable and good about myself in the audition.
Your character, he’s a bit aloof and won’t join in? Can you relate to Jai at all?
Everyone feels alone at some stage of their life and they think no one can help them with their problems, when really there are people who can help. Yes, past experiences have helped me portray Jai.
After Jai’s family died in the Tsunami he feels there is no one out there that can really help him, but then Miles’ family also dies in the Tsunami so they are going through the same thing together. But Miles breaks down at the same time as he is helping Jai. So he kind of ditched me and I took that the wrong way pretty much and felt that the world is a cruel place and that no one will ever understand me. So my character has cut down on socialisation and doesn’t really want to get to know anyone in the Bay, for trust reasons. He doesn’t want to get hurt again.
How is it working with Josh?
Josh is such a great actor and he’s helped me with this experience. It’s completely different to what I started out doing and he’s just really helped me with presence, all sorts of things. In real life he’s pretty much a mentor for me. It’s a fantastic opportunity for me.
Have you made friends with anyone else in Home and Away?
Yeah pretty much the whole cast, they are so friendly, and cool and relaxed. They are really good at what they do. I’d like to get to know them a bit more.
What can we see happen with Jai the character in the Bay, does he form any close friendships with anyone?
There are a few dramas surrounding him, but Miles is out to prove that he can build his life up again, and that people aren’t so bad. He is going to teach Jai to trust again.
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Originally Posted by Jessie Wallace
, how do you pronounce that?
