Star rises over hills

Bailey Barbour, in acting mode, has already featured in several films and television shows and is hoping to pursue a successful acting career. 123325 Pictures: ROB CAREW

By LACHLAN MOORHEAD

LOOK closely to see the star that shines in Endeavour Hills.
That star is 10-year-old Bailey Barbour, a child actor who seems destined to be a household name in the international film industry.
Bailey has already starred in a host of films before reaching his teenage years, and will feature with Australian actor Kodi Smit McPhee in the TV series Gallipoli next year.
Speaking from his Endeavour Hills home while enjoying a relaxing break from filming, Bailey exudes a confidence well beyond his years.
“I like to do acting pretty much all the time, instead of watching TV I go and learn all I can to do with acting,” he said.
“I do emotional training, all that stuff.
“The first few productions, you do get a bit nervous but as you get more experience the nerves you have go away.”
After only starting to take his career seriously roughly two years ago, Bailey’s credibility as an actor was given a major boost when he featured as a devil child in the horror film The Artifice which was released in May.
His mother, Robyn, believes the sky is the limit for her talented son but concedes he didn’t get the acting gene from her.
“We don’t know where he got it form, he’s just a natural,” Robyn said.
“He’s definitely going to continue acting. I honestly believe he has a huge, huge future and so do a lot of agents in the US.”
For Bailey, though, it’s the love of the craft that pushes the Thomas Mitchel Primary School student to chase his dream.
“Acting is what I want to do for my career in life,” he said.
“My dream is to go to America and film American movies and I don’t think I’ll ever want to stop.
“I dream of having my star on the (Hollywood) Walk of Fame and going to the Oscars and feeling in life that I did acting and something I chose, not something that someone else pushed me to do.
“I’m always watching movies and I think that really helps when you watch their acting and copy that, get little pieces of other actors.
“Me and my friends used to just hang out all the time and not talk about our future and then I got into acting and everyone else wants to do acting.”
Gallipoli is set to air on the Nine network in 2015.