BARRHEAD actress Kirsty MacLaren has come a long way since starring as Pinocchio in her school play when she was in primary two.
In fact, if you had told the six-year-old Kirsty she would go on to appear in worldwide TV hit The Crown, alongside the likes of Hollywood star Helena Bonham Carter, she may well have thought you were being as truthful as the wooden puppet she was playing at the time.
Understandably, the former Cross Arthurlie Primary pupil admits it was something of a ‘pinch myself’ moment when she made her television debut as Violet, personal maid to Helena’s character Princess Margaret, in the third series of the hugely-popular Netflix show.
Kirsty stands out in a memorable scene with Helena, where Margaret’s brash personality is quickly established during an exchange with Violet.
However, unlike her character in The Crown, Kirsty was thrilled to share the screen with the Golden Globe-nominated actress.
“The Crown is my first ever TV job, so to have that as my first experience is pretty amazing,” she told the Barrhead News.
“I was working with one of the best in the business. To have just me and Helena Bonham Carter on set for a week, just the two of us, was pretty much a masterclass.
“She’s such a generous actress. She gives you so much, which for someone like me who is really at the start of their career is unbelievable.”
Kirsty’s first television appearance was met with great enthusiasm by family and friends back home in Barrhead, with some unaware she had bagged a role on such a high-profile show.
“I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone that I was in it, apart from close friends and family, because it was all embargoed,” she said. “I think it was a big surprise for people.
“I’ve had people sending me messages to say they had watched it, couldn’t believe it and had to wind it back to make sure it was me.
“Everybody has been so lovely about it – really supportive.”
Being handed the role of Pinocchio in the school show at Cross Arthurlie Primary led to Kirsty being bitten by the acting bug.
She would go on to star in more leading roles at school and in shows staged by Paisley-based PACE Youth Theatre, which has also helped to shape the careers of the likes of Hollywood star James McAvoy and Game of Thrones heart-throb Richard Madden, who hails from Elderslie.
By the age of 11, Kirsty had appeared in hit Scottish TV comedy show Chewin’ the Fat, alongside Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill, of Still Game fame, as well as a number of theatre productions by the Apollo Players, including The Sound of Music, An Inspector Calls and Hello Dolly.
A major breakthrough for Kirsty came when she was accepted to study musical theatre at The Dance School of Scotland, at Knightwood Secondary School, in Glasgow.
Then, in 2015, she was cast as Manda in the comedy Our Ladies Of Perpetual Succour, which proved to be a hit on stage both in the UK and internationally.
Following a world tour that took in the likes of Australia and the United States, the show would run for another six months in London’s West End and win an Olivier Award for Best New Comedy in 2017.
As well as working with Helena in The Crown, Kirsty also recently starred alongside leading actors James Nesbitt and Sheila Hancock in the Tim Firth play This Is My Family, which she describes as a brilliant learning experience.
“When you work with lead actors who are so experienced in everything they do, every day is a school day,” she said. “I’ve been so blessed to have met these people and shared a stage or a screen with them.”
Kirsty is currently living in London as she pursues more screen roles, conscious that this is where most of the work can be found as a young actor, but she was back in Barrhead for Christmas and tries to visit her home town at least once a month.
“It was so lovely being back home over Christmas and being able to spend a week or so going to the Central Cafe and The Foundry, which is where I was taught a couple of classes,” she said.
Kirsty is now hoping 2020 will bring plenty more opportunities to shine on stage and screen.
“I’ve been so lucky that, since I’ve come out of drama school, all my dream jobs have happened,” she said. “Now I need to find some new dream jobs to enjoy.”
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