Celia Massingham stood out all the way through her QUT acting degree - and soon she'll be standing out to American television audiences.
Just months after being part of QUT's graduate showcase, the 21-year-old from Kenmore has landed a breakthrough role in the CW Network's new TV pilot, The Selection, which is due to start shooting in Vancouver this week.
Her character is still under wraps, but the pilot has been described as The Hunger Games meets The Bachelor and is set in a futuristic United States - after a Fourth World War - where women compete to marry into the royal family.
The head of QUT's acting studio, Dianne Eden, said Celia had been determined to find acting success quickly.
"She was almost obsessive about her determination to not be serving coffee," she said.
"Celia was a standout during her QUT training because she had a high level of talent and a real natural ability to read the industry and to identify how she could find a niche in it. That knowledge is not natural in young actors: it's an innate skill.
"She's clever, generous and has an enormous screen presence and a natural glow. We taught her to be strong and deep - our method actor training suited her well."
Ms Eden said QUT graduates also working in the United States included Michael Dorman, who appears in the new Robert de Niro film Killer Elite, Brenton Thwaites (starring in the new Blue Lagoon feature film), Ryan Johnson (starring in a second series of Fairly Legal), and Paul Hodge (TV's CSI and new feature film From the Rough).
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Media contact: Mechelle McMahon, QUT media, 07 3138 9449 or media@qut.edu.au
