“It just really made me think about working class schools and resources and introducing them to that world.”
Jordanne began her flourishing acting career as a 14-year-old when she starred in Frank Berry’s I Used to Live Here. From there, the young actress went on to feature in television miniseries Rebellion and played the lead role in Emmet Kirwan’s viral hit Heartbreak.
Her new film Metal Heart hit cinemas this week and she joined Dion Fanning on Ireland Unfiltered to discuss her new movie, how acting saved her mental health, finding feminism at a young age and how she’s breaking the class ceiling.
Alongside her impressive back catalogue of previous roles, Jordanne is just 18-years-old and studying Film and English Literature at Trinity College Dublin. Originally from Tallaght, she spoke to Dion about how she quickly learned of the class divisions in Dublin city and Trinity College.
In fact she learned it the first time she wanted to show someone close to her where she was in college.
“Just when I’d first got with my boyfriend, I wanted to show him where I was studying and so I brought him into town,” Jones said. “I was like ‘Yeah you know Trinity College?’ and he was like ‘Yeah, Trinity College.’
“And we get off the bus and he’s like – on Dame Street – and he’s like “So where is it?” and I’m like ‘What do you mean where is it?’ It’s right there!
“He didn’t even know that he was allowed walk through the campus. So it just really made me think about working class schools and resources and introducing them to that world and not allowing them to believe that that’s not for them or they don’t belong there or they can’t – it’s not realistic for them,” she said.
But it wasn’t just her boyfriend who experienced it, she herself witnessed some of the divides and expectations in society when she was a teenager.
“I remember I was told in school when I said I wanted to go to Trinity,” Jones recalled. “They said ‘Why don’t you think about hair and beauty in Crumlin College?’
“And there’s nothing wrong with hair and beauty in Crumlin College at all if that’s what you wanted to do but that’s not what I wanted to do and they were basically saying that what I was reaching for wasn’t realistic and I needed to lower my standards.”
You can check out the full episode on what Jordanne had to say below:
Ireland Unfiltered, brought to you in partnership with Carlsberg Unfiltered, will be available everywhere you get your podcasts and on YouTube every Tuesday.
