A spellbinding role for Hanah (From Penarth Times)

A spellbinding role for Hanah

A SULLY schoolgirl has landed the lead female role in a commercial for Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, which is to be screened on a children's satellite channel.

Hanah Ovenstone, 12, is a pupil at Stanwell School and is signed up to an agency which put her forward for the audition.

At the beginning of August, she had to travel to Cheltenham for the audition.

Hanah said: "I had to sit on a sofa, and pretend to watch television."

There were 20 kids auditioning for the two lead parts, and the producers wanted one girl and one boy, who would then take on the roles of brother and sister in the actual commercial.

Hanah was matched up with a boy, also 12 years old, who had the same colouring, so they would look convincing as siblings.

She said that the audition only took about ten minutes to do, but described it as "fun".

She said: "I didn't know if I had got the part, as they didn't give anything away on the day."

When told that she had successfully secured the role, she was "really happy" and surprised.

She admitted that she watched Sabrina, the Teenage Witch on television all the time.

The filming took place over a full day, and Hanah even had her own dressing room.

She added: "I haven't told my friends yet, they will have to wait to see it".

It took two hours for the team to do her hair, as they tried out five different hairstyles on her.

The commercial will be screened from early September and features a cat and dog.

Hanah said that the live animals were "well behaved".

Ambition

Hanah attends two drama groups, one is a workshop in Cardiff where she learns improvisations for television and film.

The other is called 'Tick Tock', and whilst there she concentrates on theatre acting and singing. Her ambition is to be an actress, and she has already appeared in an episode of French and Saunders and also in a drama called Missing.

Despite her hectic schedule, she said that she still manages to find time to do her homework.