Fond Kiss star heads for Hollywood

An actress who has earned awards and rave reviews for her performance in the latest Ken Loach movie is making her first trip to Hollywood to raise her profile there.

Dublin-born but Derry-raised Eva Birthistle confirmed today she is heading to Los Angeles next month to meet casting agents on the back of the movie’s critical success in Europe.

The actress, who recently won a Best Actress Irish Film and Television Award for her performance in Ken Loach’s inter-racial romance Ae Fond Kiss, has landed roles in the new Neil Jordan movie Breakfast On Pluto and Ollie Parker’s romantic comedy Click.

But she has also set her sights on raising her profile in the film-making capital of the world and possibly following in the footsteps of other Irish stars like Liam Neeson, Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson.

“It’s actually going to be my first time ever in the United States,” she told PA News in Londonderry where she was attending the opening day of the Seagate 17th Foyle Film Festival.

“The agency whose books I’m on has offices out there and we’re going to set up a number of meetings with contacts in the industry and casting directors there.

“We’ll try and line up an agent to represent me in LA.

“At the moment, I’m very content with the way my career is going. Working with Ken has been a great boost.

“My agent’s phone started hopping as soon as Ae Fond Kiss premiered and suddenly there were people interested who before had not really noticed me.”

With a title taken from a Robert Burns song, Ae Fond Kiss tells the tale of Roisin, a trainee music teacher in a Glasgow Catholic school who falls for aspiring DJ Cassim, played by Atta Yaqub, the brother of one of her students.

The inter-racial romance is put under strain by members of the Catholic church and Cassim’s Pakistani family who want him under to enter into an arranged marriage.

The film will receive its American premiere soon.

Eva Birthistle also captured an IFTA nomination for her performance in Irish director Alan Gilsenan’s dark road movie, Timbuktu, which is being screened in Derry during the film festival.

The movie tells the story of a girl and her transvestite friend who go to Morocco in search of her brother, a monk who has been kidnapped by an extremist group.

Since landing the IFTA, she has worked opposite Liam Neeson and Cillian Murphy in Neil Jordan’s Breakfast On Pluto, joined Lena Headly on the set of Click in London and made a TV movie in Manchester called Baby War with Gina McKee and John Lynch.

“Working with Neil has been a totally different experience from working with Ken,” she confessed.

“We’ve been shooting Breakfast On Pluto in Dublin, Kilkenny and Belfast and I’m really proud to have a good role with such a great Irish cast.

“With Neil you very much stick to what is a totally imaginative, brilliantly written script.

“It’s very much in the mould of his other Patrick McCabe screen adaptation, The Butcher Boy and it was a real pleasure getting to work with Liam Neeson, Cillian and Neil.

“With Ken, there were days when he relied on improvisation and you had no idea how the story that day was going to develop.

“There was nothing intimidating about it. I think I was more nervous when I was auditioning for Ken because he is such a respected director.

“It was really fun to do. The crew were so laid back and Ken is a lovely director to work for.

“The atmosphere on the set of Click, I have to say, is really good too.

“Ollie Parker’s doing a terrific job. It’s good to be doing something light because a lot of my work up to now has been quite heavy.”

A former star of the Irish television soap opera Glenroe, Eva Birthistle was also quick today to lay to rest a myth that she has a licence to operate farm machinery.

“I don’t know how that managed to get on my CV,” she said.

“I can only think it was done for insurance purposes for Glenroe but I do know how to drive a tractor.

“So if they’re looking for an actress in Hollywood for any roles involving tractors, I’m the one.”