Helen O'Grady Drama Academy Johannesburg North East: Helen O'Grady student lead boy in Ian Gabriel's "Four Corners"

Helen O'Grady Drama

The Helen O’Grady Drama Academy began in Perth , Western Australia in 1979.It is of international status and in South Africa alone there are 9 branches with 4,000 children attending each week.I have now been involved with the Academy for over 15 years,6 years in London,UK and 9 years in Johannesburg.The Academy has gone from strength to strength and we now have 600 students attending classes in 14 locations.The Academy has expanded with the help of my highly skilled, caring, enthusiastic teachers , Catherine Brooks,Venetia Herbst, Stephanie Nel, Hilliary Meikle and Cindy Hammond.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Helen O'Grady student lead boy in Ian Gabriel's "Four Corners"

We are very proud of Jezreil Skei (aged 13 years) who attends the Ulman Park branch(Morningside) of our Academy. He was chosen out of hundreds of boys auditioned in Johannesburg and Cape Town to play the lead role (Ricardo) in the film "Four Corners" directed by South African director Ian Gabriel.

Ian Gabriel's award winning feature film FORGIVENESS received critical acclaim worldwide ,and was heralded in a recent CNN report as one of ten best African films of the last decade http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/21/world/africa/best-african-movies/index.html

Jezreil or Jezie as he likes to be called spent 7 weeks filming down in Cape Town. He had an amazing experience as he had to learn new skills including how to play chess, weaponry training and learn the local "language" of the Cape Flats gang mobs.

Four Corners is a coming of age story about a young boy at the crossroads in his life. RICARDO's coming of age story highlights the positive outcome of the strength of family in the gang-torn communities surrounding Cape Town.The film will be released next year.

Jezie, like most of the drama students who attend the Helen O'grady Drama Academy Johannesburg North East belongs to Take 10 Casting Agency, our sister company.The performance skills taught at the academy certainly help our students to achieve success in the TV and film industry.