email to a friend | your comments Young actress hopes for Olivier award SALFORD’S Michelle Calvert who has won a host of acting awards in London A TALENTED young actress from Salford has been nominated for a Laurence Olivier award. Michelle Calvert, from Walkden, is in her third year of a performing arts degree at Arts Educational College in London, and has been nominated for a string of awards for her performances, and has been nominated to receive a Laurence Olivier Bursary. The Laurence Olivier bursaries aim to help students of considerable talent complete the three-year course.
Michelle said: “I should find out sometime soon if I have won, but just to be nominated is an award in itself. It is welcome recognition for all the hard work I’ve put in.” There are five types of award and the winner can receive up to £7,000 - a welcome sum for Michelle, who struggles to pay for the expensive course in Chiswick, in east London.
The course costs a whopping £9,354 a year, and Michelle, 21, is worried about money. She said: “When I missed out on the sponsorship I was devastated, but a lot of people from Salford have helped me. It’s been very hard, but I’m a positive person and I’m sure we’ll get through it.
“My family have given up so much to try and keep me here, and I don’t want to let them down.” Talented actress Michelle also won the prestigious Lillian Baylis award for most promising student at a ceremony at the Old Vic in London earlier this month. The award is given to up and coming drama students and comes with £1,400 prize money.
Michelle, a former pupil of Walkden High and Pendleton College, said: “It’ll be a great help to me, but it’ll go straight back to my grandfather who lent me the money in the first place.” The 21-year-old met her idol, Kevin Spacey, the patron of the Old Vic, at the ceremony. She said: “It was like a god walked into the room.
” Despite the glitz and glamour of the industry, Michelle does not necessarily want to be famous. She said: “I just want to give something back to all the people that have helped me. I miss my family so much.
I do remind myself constantly that I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them.” Michelle also paid tribute to Gary Willis, head of performing arts at Pendleton College, where she studied for a BTec in Performing Arts. She said: “He was a great inspiration to me and taught me everything I knew before I went to London.
” Gary said: “Michelle was always a great student. She was dedicated and hard working and had a lot of talent. “I’m very pleased for her, and hope she’ll buy me a beer the next time I see her!
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