Jo is a leading light (From Penarth Times)

Jo is a leading light

A PENARTH teenager, who has appeared in Doctor Who and the Harry Potter movies, has been selected for a new training programme run by the BBC and Channel 4 aimed at disabled actors who want to work in television.

Former Stanwell pupil Jo Osmond, aged 18, was born with a type of dwarfism called hypochondroplasia, and is 4ft 4in tall.

She inherited the condition from her mum Lisa, who is also 4ft 4in.

Jo, who obtained her Equity card at the age of 15, said: "The aim of the programme is to increase the pool of disabled actors available to producers, and to change the way in which disabled people are perceived."

According to the BBC, 16 percent of the adult population in the UK has a disability, but they make up less than one percent of people represented on television.

Channel 4's Editorial Manager for Disability, Alison Walsh, said: "Channel 4 is determined to reflect disabled people's participation in society more fully.

"Disabled actors continue to find it difficult to break into the industry, and the Talent Fund will allow some of this untapped talent to develop."

Jo will now undergo three weeks of intensive training at the Actors Centre in Covent Garden where BBC and Channel 4 directors will be present.

Along with her mum, she will also feature in the new Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, in which they play supporters at a Quidditch match.

At the age of 11, Jo won a competition to work as a presenter for one day on the Disney Channel.

At 16 she was chosen as the stand-in for actress Danni Harmer, who played Tracey Beaker, in Tracey Beaker the Movie.

Jo said: "That movie actually had a lot to do with me leaving school.

"Because Danni was under 16 at the time she could only work a certain number of hours a day.

"Therefore I did all shots where she was walking and running, or back-of-the-head shots where you couldn't see her face.