22-year-old is one to watch

Learning kung-fu isn’t a conventional route to success on the big screen, but it worked for Chorley’s Laura Wilson. The 22-year-old’s first appearance in front of the cameras was in a promotional film for the martial art and she said: ‘That began my love of film acting and I’ve been cast in two further film roles where I actually used my martial arts skills.

‘I’d started learning kung-fu with my dad, originally to keep fit and learn how to defend myself. But when I was 13 my instructor decided to cast me in the leading role for a promotional video for The Whiteley Kung Fu Institute.’

Laura, a former pupil at Albany Science College, made her stage debut as a seven-year-old when she won a talent competition at a holiday camp singing My Heart Will Go On. She attended the Stagecoach Theatre Arts for two years and a drama club in Adlington called St Paul’s Players and has since appeared in a number of films and will this month attend the premiere of her latest movie, The Singing Bird Will Come, a psychological horror film.

‘I’ve been lucky as I’ve managed not get typecast in roles,’ she said. ‘In the past 12 months I’ve played a prostitute, a gang member, a business woman, a trafficking victim and a nurse. The fun part about being an actress is that it allows you to be lots of different people, albeit temporarily.’

The Singing Bird Will Come was filmed in Staffordshire and Shropshire and the film tells the story of a girl who returns to her home town because her mother’s died and her relationship has broken up.

Laura plays a ghost in the film and added: ‘Thus was a dream role for me as I’m a big fan of horror films but I really had to get in touch with my dark side in order to pull off the performance. With roles like this, you have to get stuck in and not hold back. It’s crucial to enjoy every moment of acting and savour every memory. Some of my best memories have been made on film sets.

‘The film has a very different take on horror. There’s not so much focus on violence or buckets of blood that you might normally associate with a horror film, it’s more of a psychological ghost story. It’s got a well-written script, great acting and an emotionally restless atmosphere which makes it that much scarier.’