IT started as childish fun in the comfort of her home.

Charlotte Wakefield, of Bexton Road, spent hours dressed as her favourite Disney characters to entertain family and friends.

But these days her acting has taken on a more serious role after she beat 2,000 hopefuls to land a part in her first film.

The Egerton Primary School pupil is starring with some of Britain's best actors in An Angel for May which is set in Yorkshire.

"I loved being Pocahontas around the house," she said.

"But making the film is a lot more hard work.

"The director spends most of the time putting us in different places to see which looks best and we

do each scene lots of times until it's right."

Charlotte, who has been a member of Stagecoach in Northwich for two years, was chosen out of nearly 2,000 girls to play the title role.

"I was speechless when I found out I'd got the part," she said at her home on Saturday.

"I just held the phone but no words came out of my mouth. I was so happy."

The film - an adventure fantasy based on the book by Melvin Burgess - stars The Full Monty's Hugo Speer among others.

But Charlotte is still waiting to meet the handsome actor.

"I probably won't meet him until the party at the end," she said. "The film is set in two time zones, but he's in the present and I'm in the past, so we don't appear together."

The film is a tale about schoolboy Tom who is transported back to the Second World War where he meets orphaned evacuee May (played by Charlotte).

"May has to look dirty and she doesn't care what she wears," said Charlotte. "It takes them nearly an hour everyday to make my face look grey and back comb my hair.

"But it takes days to get rid of the makeup so I've looked grey for weeks."

Charlotte, who has a tutor on set to keep up with her studies, will be back at school next month.

But she hopes this film is just the start of things to come.

"It would be exciting to go to Hollywood," she said. "We'll just have to wait and see."

mgillies@guardiangrp.co.uk