Biography
Actress Jayma Mays began her big-screen career by focusing on somber material: she made a big impression on audiences as an assistant hotel manager forced to navigate her way through the night from hell in
Wes Craven's 2005 thriller
Red Eye, prompting one prominent critic to chalk the effort up as a "wonderful movie debut." Following a small role as a nurse in director
Clint Eastwood's Iwo Jima epic
Flags of Our Fathers (2006), Mays discovered a flair for comedy (often filling the role of the straight man or the pretty romantic interest) in titles including
Epic Movie (2007),
Smiley Face (2007), and the
Kevin James vehicle Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009). ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide