Redundancy spurred dad-of-two to seek new career as film and television extra... now he’s in Maleficent

WRESTLING with a CGI pixie and being described as ‘hot’ by Hollywood star Angelina Jolie is all in a day’s work for one Penketh man.

Dad of two Stuart Olney has recently swapped his day job as an estate agent for life on set and will appear in the new Disney film Maleficent, which is to be released at the end of the month.

Spending hours on set dressed in armour as a palace guard is not how Stuart imagined he would be able to make a living but now he couldn’t imagine doing anything different.

The 41-year-old said: “I was made redundant about four years ago and back then I had longer hair than I have now and the ability to grow a beard.

“My dad has done extra work and was with an agency. They were looking for bearded people for Snow White and the Huntsman and that was how I got my first film – because I had a beard.”

Apart from drama classes during his school years, Stuart has had no acting training but has since appeared in a number of television programmes including Coronation Street, Shameless and Midsomer Murders.

“It certainly beats working in an office,” said the aspiring actor.

“I absolutely love it. You have a big group of bearded men in their 30s and 40s and you give them a shield and a sword and tell them to charge. It’s like being a seven-year-old again.”

Stuart also bumped into Hollywood starlet Angelina Jolie while filming at the Pinewood Studios but, unfortunately, he wasn’t looking his best at the time.

He said: “We had just come out of the rehearsal studio. She was driven past in a golf buggy and shouted out to me ‘wow, you look hot’.

“Unfortunately it wasn’t because of my good looks, but due to the fact that I had been working in 30 degrees wearing a full suit of armour and was absolutely dripping in sweat.”

Stuart was also very excited to show his children, Elizabeth, aged four, and Joshua, aged six, his debut on the small screen and they didn’t hold back.

“The first time the kids saw me on the screen was when I was a squatter in Hollyoaks and Joshua ran off shouting ‘I don’t like scary daddy’,” laughed Stuart.

Here’s hoping his toughest and youngest critics give him a better reception in his next role.