Star quality

Youngster lands film role

A Ca l d e rwo o d Primary pupil has been acting up lately - after landing a key role in a short film for Epilepsy Scotland.

Ella Riley, 12, goes to Smith’s Theatre in East Kilbride, and was handpicked to appear in I Am Me.

The story shows a boy being bullied because of his epilepsy, and Ella plays a girl who is upset at her dad not doing anything to stop the bullying.

Her proud dad in real life, Mark said: “She’s a very shy girl,but she loves her acting classes.

“It’s a really important message so obviously we were delighted at her being picked for it.

“Ca l d e r w o o d is e xt remely good at the Bridgeton Burns competitions and she’s taken part in that before, so I think that’s given her a lot of confidence to do more things like acting.”

The film was first screened at Paisley Town House at the start of March, and Epilepsy Scotland are hoping the film will be used across the country.

However, Ella was too shy to watch the first showing.

Mark added: ”She won’t look at it - I think she was a wee bit nervous about seeing herself. The director was saying how impressed he was that she was actually taking direction so well - he said that sometimes children do their own thing, but Ella was very responsive.”

Craig Smith, who runs Smith’s Theatre School with his brother and also teaches at Stonelaw High, was pleased to see her doing so well. He added: “She’s very promising and she’s really talented.

“The director Gavin Sinclair picked her out for the role himself. She’s quietly confident, she’s not over the top but she comes to life when she’s performing.

“This will hopefully be rolled out in primary schools as it teaches kids not to judge people.”