By Patricia Devlin.

Beauty queen, musician, actress and song writer........... 27 year-old Jilly St John has one hell of a CV.

The Derry stunner, who is the lead singer of top up-and-coming rock band No Mean City, is due to make her film debut this autumn alongside Hollywood starlet Natalie Portman and Sugahfix gals have a feeling it won't be the last time Miss St John's name will be flashing across the big screen.

The words 'star struck' just don't fit into her vocabulary and after a memorable couple of years which has seen her work with some of the industry's biggest names, front a nationwide advertising campaign, make it to the final auditioning stages of a prime time talent show and receive the Miss Earth Derry crown; 2010 is set to be her year.

"At 27 I think I have narrowed it down now," laughs Jilly, "Music and acting are my priorities now, they are close to my heart and that's what I am focusing on. I have always been creative. Even at school I studied performing arts and from there it's been singing, acting and modelling."

A regular to the small screen Jilly has dabbled in almost every sector of the creative industry. Her role in the film that critics are tipping to be Hollywood's next blockbuster, does not faze the all round creative who still sees herself as a musician.

"I do consider myself to be a musician and generally speaking you find that musicians spread themselves across a lot of areas, and at the minute for me music and acting are those two areas."

After numerous roles in a number of short films, Jilly landed a part in fantasy flick 'Your Highness', filmed in Belfast just last year. After successfully securing a role as one of the King's brides in the film, Jilly spent two weeks appearing in scenes alongside actress Natalie Portman and actors Danny McBride and James Franco.

"It was a brilliant experience and really good fun. Natalie Portman is just a beautiful character who is actually quite quiet. We filmed on the outskirts of Belfast in this enormous, purpose built gladiator style dome. We also shot in a forest where my character is seen emerging from trees and helping to capture the characters of Danny McBride and James Franco to bring back to the King. It was a great experience and I was lucky enough to meet some amazing people through that work as well as watch the stunts and makings of a Hollywood film."

Before landing the role in 'Your Highness', the delectable Derry beauty was certainly no stranger to performing in front of the toughest of critics. Before making it to the final 40 of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'I'd Do Anything' two years ago, a spot on ITV's X-Factor had the rock chick questioning her path.

"Louis Walsh was just such a mean wee man. I auditioned for the show a few years back and got through to the judges houses. I was glad to get to that stage, I sang and then he just totally laid into me. He said I wasn't good enough and I just remember crying."
"It definitely affected my confidence but that was rebuilt when I made it so far in 'I'd Do Anything'. I am still so proud that I made it to the final 40 in Nancy School, it was a great achievement."

Up until recently Jilly was also making a name for herself in the modelling world through Derry based agency Converse Models. After finishing her reign as Miss Earth Derry last year, Jilly fronted Venture Photography's UK wide PR campaign. With focus now on her music and song writng career, which has blossomed over the last year, Jilly has not only became No Mean City's lead singer but has also written and provided vocals for top electronic band The Japanese Popstars.
"I wrote and recorded the vocals for their track 'We Just Are' which received a lot of air play and featured on Pete Tong's Radio 1 show. It wasn't until October that we formed the band and since then we have been writing and producing music as well as headlining and performing at various gigs and events."

Jilly adds: "Paul is the guitarist who comes up with the tunes. He puts down the loop and I write the lyrics to it. Joe's on bass and Alfie's on drums. We really gel together, all four of us. Within our first week of forming myself and Paul already had our first two tracks written. Our first EP comes out on March 26th which we are really looking forward to."

The talented songstress is hoping the band, which has which will be playing a number of major gigs over the coming months, could even top the NI charts this year.

"We are driving to the stage now where people are beginning to give us recognition and and know us. We realise that we have a lot of hard work in front of us and we are still young but our only goal is to play music. We also are not losing sight of the fact that If you don't enjoy it, then there's no point. And we all have a passion for what we do."

For more information on Jilly's up coming performances with No Mean City, visit the band's my space page: