The daughter of a Swiss mother and a Pakistani father, she graduated from Earl Haig Secondary School, and later from the Radio and Television Arts program at Ryerson University in June 2007.
She has made many Canadian media appearances, including as a commentator on MuchMusic’s Video on Trial, Stars On Trial and LOL!, as well as a role in the drama series Flashpoint, and Jian Ghomeshi’s Monday correspondent on CBC Radio One’s Sounds Like Canada in the Summer. She also previously filed a regular segment on Go. She is a former host (until 2010) of Laugh Out Loud on CBC Radio One and a reality TV show for children, In Real Life, airing on YTV. She made a cameo in the video for the song Break This by Hunter Valentine. She narrates the CBBC series Rank the Prank.
Jalees came out as a lesbian and was shunned by her extended Muslim family, an experience she relates in her 2013 Canadian comedy tour, “Brownlisted.” Her wife, Shauna McCann, is a fashion designer. They have a son named Wolfie.
