A plea has been made by an Exmouth woman to help her realise her Hollywood dreams.
Emily Bowen, 23, of Greenhill Avenue, has been accepted onto a one-year intensive acting course at the New York Film Academy at their location based within the Los Angeles film studios.
The former Exmouth Community College pupil is asking for the town’s help to raise the money she needs to take the ‘opportunity of a lifetime’.
The course itself costs more than $37,000 but Emily was awarded a scholarship which discounts this by $12,000. On top of that, she estimates living in Los Angeles will cost her up to $2,800.
So, she needs to raise around £28,600 in order to ‘live her dream’. A Go Fund Me page has been set up with a £20,000 target.
Emily, who is set to graduate from University of Plymouth in June, said it would ‘mean the world’ to be able to learn somewhere the likes of Steven Spielberg and Al Pacino have given classes.
She added: “I would be able to learn from people I have idolised my whole life and who have lived the dream I wish to live.
“I would get the best training in a professional environment; I would get to speak to some of the best, well known professionals in the industry and it would take me that much further towards achieving my dreams.”
She said she is still in a state of shock after discovering she had been accepted onto the New York Film Academy course.
Emily added: “I don’t even think there’s a word to describe it when you can feel your dreams coming true. It’s overwhelming in the best way.”
The 23-year-old said she has known she wants to be an actress since she was five and one of her youngest memories was a family holiday to California when she wanted to visit Hollywood.
Illness stopped her visiting on that occasion, but on her return home, Emily said she made a ‘Hollywood funds’ shoebox.
She also remembers putting on small shows in her living room her parents.
Emily has performed locally with the Blackmore Theatre, starring in Frankenstein the pantomime at the age of 13.
To donate, visit the Go Fund Me page
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