Jennie Pegouskie Bentot is an American actress, dancer, creative director and model who gained recognition after she was featured as the female lead in Ed Sheeran’s chart-topping 2017 a pop, dancehall and tropical house ‘Shape of You’ from his third album ÷ (read divide), which went on to become one of the biggest hits of 2017. She also served in the capacity of an assistant production supervisor for ‘Shape of You’.
Pegouskie started her career in modelling soon after graduation and in the early years of her career toured extensively with the hip hop music duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, serving as a background dancer and performer in more than 30 countries where the duo went on tours, since she was hired in 2013. However, it was with ‘Shape of You’ that Pegouskie made an appearance as a solo lead.
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Early Life and Education
Pegouskie was born on 14 August 1988 in Seattle, Washington, where she was raised by her parents in an African-American family. Not much is known about Pegouskie’s early life. At age 9, Pegouskie was diagnosed with Asthma which prevents her from getting involved in physical activities and carries an inhaler at all times. She spent her childhood in a farm where her family lived.
Pegouskie completed her primary, secondary and high school education from various schools in Seattle and later enrolled into the University of Washington, Seattle from where she graduated with a degree in marketing and communications.
Career Rise
Pegouskie started a career in modelling soon after her graduation and was hired by the Grammy award-winning hip hop muical duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis with whom she toured as a performer in more than 30 countries across the world. Pegouskie joined the duo in 2013 and continues to be a part of the entourage. Pegouskie credits her time with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis for giving her the opportunities of appearing on several popular shows which include ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’, ‘The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon’, ‘The Ellen Show’. She has also performed at events like ‘The American Music Awards’ and ‘Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve’
Pegouskie featured in several of Macklemore’s music videos including ‘Downtown’ while also serving as a video producer behind the scenes, one of which won a Best Video award at the MTV European Music Awards in 2015, while another made it to the list of Top 15 Rap Videos that same year. Pegouskie, who was initially hired as an assistant production supervisor on ‘Shape of You’ was selected to star in the video after the production team liked her look on camera as opposed to the other girls who auditioned. The single by Ed Sheeran resulted in Pegouskie gaining considerable recognition.
How did Jennie Pegouskie bag the ‘Shape of You’ video?
Ed Sheeran had secretly slipped to Seattle to shoot the video, with director Jason Koenig and his crew. Pegouskie was hired to work as an assistant production supervisor. One of her duties was to find an attractive girl to shoot with Sheeran for the video. According to Pegouskie,there were tons of attractive girls auditioning for the part. But unknown to her, Sheeran and Koenig felt that Pegouskie actually suited the part, by the way she was auditioning and guiding the girls on the set.
Sheeran and Koenig asked her if she could play the romantic interest for Sheran in the ‘Shape of You’ video, and the hardworking girl accepted the offer. The rest is history.
Jennie Pegouskie – Pictures
Personal Life
Not much is known about Pegouskie’s personal life. She has never spoken about her personal life, nor has she shared anything regarding it on her Instagram account, on which she is very active. Pegouskie has 63.9k Instagram followers.
The 5 feet 7 inch tall Pegouskie lives in an apartment in Seattle, Washington that is close to her family home. Pegouskie’s family also owns a farm where she likes to spend time when she is not working.