Phil uses acting to find his niche in life

Te Aroha man Phill Palmer can now add international actor to his resume.

Palmer, an electrician by trade, started his acting debut in the Te Aroha Little Theatre in 2008.

Since then he branched out to theatres in Hamilton including his first musical Oliver with Hamilton Operatic Society starring Richard O’Brien.

In 2012, Palmer began film work and since then he has done a series of short films, web series and six feature films in various roles.

His hobby very quickly became a passion, then obsession.

‘‘I joined Muse talent agency and became a professional actor part time while continuing in my current full time job as an electrician in Te Aroha,’’ he said.

Palmer has recently returned from the US where he played three different characters in three films.

Two for Forbidden Tear Productions (FTP), with director Jennifer Dawn and owner of FTP in Waldron Arkansas.

The first US short film was Heavy Metal, written by award winning author of the stars Betty Dravis.

The second film was Other Side of the Rainbow written and directed by Jennifer Dawn who won best female maker for 2016 at the Winds international film festival in Hollywood in July.

‘‘This was an amazing opportunity as I acted along side other actors from California and Florida including Katherine Koven Pacino (Step mother of Al Pacino),’’ he said.

Palmer also performed in Indi filmmaker Kelly D Weaver’s series Unity 300 while in Arkansas.

On his return to New Zealand Palmer filmed a short film with Chris Lambert who was producer of Housebound.

The last project Palmer worked on was filmed in Whangarei working both as an actor and producer on American director Fred Potts’ film Rage of the Zombies which received much media attention during filming.

He was joined by Te Aroha locals Rawinia Hughes and her daughter Chloe who were both first-time actors who threw themselves into the project and helped out behind the scenes.

Palmer is looking forward to continuing with his acting and sharing his passion with others.

‘‘Dreams really can come true!’’