Watch this face

Watch this face

Cole Hamill looks the part and acts the part. He’s also determined to get the part.

The parts he wants are currently played by Robert Downey Jr and Johnny Depp. But after 30 minutes in Cole’s company, you’re confident they’ll be his in ten years’ time.

Cole, aged 17, has just been named Emerging Artist of the Year in the Student City Arts and Cultural Awards. He was nominated by his lecturer on the UCOL Performing Arts Programme, Jaime Dorner.

“He’s brilliantly talented,” says Jaime. “But almost equally important, he’s determined to get to the top as an actor. He has a career plan and he sets out to find opportunities to further his acting, beyond what we ask him to do on the programme. You need that sort of drive, as well as talent, to succeed as an actor.”

Cole can act, sing, dance, read poetry. He has used all of those skills recently in local productions, including the lead role in Moscow Ticket, and appearances in Slice of Saturday Night and Papa e rangi. He will appear in an upcoming production of Chess in Palmerston North.

He says he wants to use every opportunity to gain experience and improve his skills. That includes repeating UCOL’s six month Performing Arts programme, doing it twice this year “as a chance to get an even better grasp of the essentials.”

After he completes his UCOL study he intends to look for work as an actor in Auckland or Wellington before applying to attend Toi Whakaari, the New Zealand Drama School, when he turns 18. He also wants to study acting for film.

In the longer term, he is fixed on a single goal: To be a great film actor.

Cole was born and raised in Feilding and attended Feilding High. He says he has wanted to be an actor since he was seven years old.

He was named Emerging Artist of the Year at the Student City Cultural Awards event held at the Globe Theatre on 10 October.

ENDS

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