Actor Samuel Roukin _220
A FORMER Merseyside schoolboy is on the verge of international stardom.
Samuel Roukin, 27, who first appeared on stage at Merchant Taylors’, is hitting the big screen in Mike Leigh’s latest film, Happy Go Lucky.
Hailed as the next Vera Drake, which won several Oscars, Leigh’s comedy drama was labelled an "enormous crowd pleaser" at the Berlin Film Festival and will be released this month.
Samuel, from Southport, plays a character called Tim in the film, which tells the story of a London teacher.
He is now filming another movie, Soloman Kane, with Pete Postlethwaite and Max von Sydow.
But, on one of his regular trips back home, Samuel returned to the Crosby school he left in 1988 to give aspiring actors a master class.
He said: "If you had said to me 10 years ago when I appeared on the Merchant Taylors’ School stage that I would be acting with Max von Sydow or working with Mike Leigh, I would have laughed, I could never have dreamed it would be possible.
"I was thoroughly immersed in what I was doing even back then and a passion for acting and the theatre, working with great teachers like Dr John Gill, but nonetheless, when you read that Max von Sydow is one of America’s greatest living actors one minute and then find yourself shooting a scene opposite him the next, you have to pinch yourself."
After leaving Merchants’ in 1998, Samuel went to Hull University to study drama and then to the renowned Bristol Old Vic to refine his acting talents.
His first big break was landing a part in His Dark Materials at the National Theatre, where he stayed on to play Prince John in Henry IV parts I and II with Michael Gambon.
From there, he was offered the lead as Pip in Great Expectations for the Royal Shakespeare Company, alongside another theatrical giant Sian Phillips. Subsequently he has worked alongside Victoria Wood in the double BAFTA winner Housewife 49 as his list of top-class credits continues to grow.
He said: "I suppose working at the National Theatre was my real breakthrough. It led to me playing Pip at the RSC and also while there, I was asked to audition for Mike Leigh’s play 2000 Years and though I did not get the part, when he was casting his new film I got the call without an audition.
"Working with Mike Leigh is incredible. He is an inspiring director.
"I think everybody needs some luck in life, but I am doing what I love and consequently I work very hard and always push myself."
His advice to the young actors at the school, busy rehearsing for a production of King Lear, was "trust your instinct, work with your gut feelings about the role and really understand what makes a character tick."
On actors he admired, he said: "Most recently, I thought Javier Bardem’s performance in No Country for Old Men was extraordinary."
His advice to the students about entering a profession in which 90% of actors struggle to find regular work, he said: "Most importantly, if somebody says no, it doesn’t mean give up. It means try again. That has to be your approach."
Samuel returns home regularly and said he misses Southport where he grew up.
He said: "Southport was a great place in which to grow up. Being in London, I really miss the sea air. I started acting with Wendy Weldon’s Merry Go Round.
"She is a brilliant director and has done so much to encourage so many young performers. I still have some of her advice in my head even now."
MERCHANT Taylors’ production of King Lear will be staged in the Williams Hall from April 30 to May 3.
Dr John Gill, head of drama and play director, said: "It’s the biggest challenge we have ever undertaken.
"We did Les Miserables last year and I wanted another production, which was on just as grand a scale, but from the purely dramatic angle as opposed to musical theatre."
Tickets are available, priced £8 and £4, and can be obtained from both Merchant Taylors’ Boys’ School and Merchant Taylors’ Girls’ School, or from Pritchard’s Bookshops.
