Hollywood beckons for an Egremont acting student after he claimed a place at a prestigious drama school.

West Lakes Academy's Matthew Dunn enrolls at The American Musical and Dramatic Academy's (AMDA) Los Angeles Campus in June as he looks to pursue a career in acting.

Matthew, 17, is one of only 15 international students to be accepted onto his studio acting programme.

He said: "It hasn't sunk in yet, it's slowly starting to count down. We went to America as a family a few years back, to New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco. That was probably one of the reasons why I went for this. I loved Los Angeles especially.

"I just want to do as much work over there as I can and have the best experience, live over there and go for auditions."

When Matthew, from Beckermet, started at the academy in 2009 he had never acted before but, under the tutelage of his performing arts teacher Debra Jackson, he has excelled.

"I started when I was in Year 7 and I've just worked with Mrs Jackson all the way through. I ended up picking it as an option for my GCSEs because I realised it was the area I wanted to be involved in," said Matthew.

"In Year 8, I was Michael in Peter Pan because I was very small at the time. Just before Christmas, I was Jay Gatsby in the Great Gatsby. I had to do a lot of research to get into character. The show was that popular it got extended to two nights."

And Mrs Jackson said: "He's been in my tutor group since Year 7 so I've been able to nurture him academically. He's a lovely lad, really kind and supportive of others. He's really good with his peers.

"He got a C in GCSE drama but he is on for an A* at A Level. He's massively improved, especially confidence wise, his ability to adapt to different characters is great. He is a pure character actor."

Matthew decided to apply for AMDA after stumbling across its website while looking for universities closer to home.

He said: "At the end of my first year in Sixth Form I was looking at universities and colleges in Britain then I came across AMDA and thought there was no harm in looking.

"I enquired about it and got sent information, I applied and got an audition, where I had to perform two contrasting monologues, in October and found out before Christmas. It was like a really early Christmas present."

The actor is now looking to raise funds for his studies and anybody who wants to support him can contact him via email at matthewxdunn@gmail.com or his fundraising site at www.indiegogo.com/projects/cumbria-to-la--2#/