The Richmond & Twickenham Times – Thursday 12th May, 2005

By James Adlam

Hollywood star and Richmond resident Richard E Grant enthralled an audience of fledgling actors on Saturday by handing out valuable advice along with autographs.

He was a welcome visitor to Stagecoach Richmond, the children’s theatre arts group which meets at The Vineyard School in Friars Stile Road, and spent more than an hour answering questions from about 30 youngsters, aged six to 14.

The star of films such as cult classic Withnail and I and Jack and Sarah talked about discovering his passion for acting in a school play at the age of 11 and recalled how as a young boy he would make pretend theatres out of shoe boxes.

He warned the children that it could be a tough life, with 95 per cent of actors, dancers and singers facing unemployment and constantly having to cope with personal remarks from directors and casting agents.

He said: “I wish I had had the opportunity to go to Stagecoach every Saturday when I was growing up.”

He admitted he always felt nervous in front of a stage audience and preferred films, although his most embarrassing career moment had been in a film where he had to sit naked playing the flute in front of 90 crew members in anoraks.

For the past five years the actor has been working on Wah-Wah, a film he wrote and directed himself about his upbringing in Swaziland, which comes out in the autumn. He revealed the lucrative Argos ads had funded his dream to make the film.

He urged the children to believe in themselves, particularly when starting out, and that would lead others to believe in them also.

Richmond Stagecoach is run by Jo van der Westhuysen, who trained at the Northern Ballet School and appeared in theatre and cruise ship shows before entering choreography and teaching.