A YOUNG film star, tipped for Oscar success, has thanked the theatre teacher who remembered his work and gave him his big break.

Jamie Bell, the 14-year-old star of Billy Elliot, was sent to the audition by former teacher Trudy Hindmarsh, of the Stagecoach theatre arts school.

Jamie, from Billingham, had already left Stagecoach, in Teesside, when the search for Billy Elliot began, but Trudy remembered him and sent him to an audition, with 2,000 other hopefuls.

Trudy, who was also Jamie's primary school teacher, said: "I knew that Jamie was well cut out for the part of Billy, which is why I sent him up for the audition. But having seen the film at a preview I was amazed at how he shone from the screen."

Stagecoach is a franchise of an international theatre school, but the classes in Tees Valley, where Jamie learnt his skills, is the fastest growing school in the worldwide network.

Last year, it hosted the gathering of a world-record breaking performance when an audience of 1,000 watched a performance by 430 students on Teesside and simultaneously by 12,000 youngsters around the world.