AN ASPIRING Penarth-born actress has landed a starring role in a US TV production prequel to Batman.

Erin Richards, 27, will star in the Fox network’s ‘Gotham’ and is due to start filming the hotly anticipated hour-long drama in March this year.

Based on characters from the Batman comics, Gotham explores the origins of Commissioner James Gordon as detective in Gotham City and the villains that Batman goes on to face.

Welsh speaker Erin, who hosted S4C’s Mosgito up until 2009, will play the role of Gordon’s fiancée Barbara Kean.

Erin, who trained at Royal Welsh College of Welsh and Drama, took to Twitter after it was announced that she had landed the leading role.

“I'm beyond excited and so happy,” she said.

Erin, who made her stage debut in Penarth playwright Katherine Chandler’s The Bankrupt Bride in 2009, will also star alongside former OC star Ben McKenzie, who has won the lead role of Commissioner Gordon, British actor Sean Pertwee, Burn Notice‘s Zabryna Guevara, and The Walking Dead’s Robin Lord Taylor.

Since 2009 Erin has had roles in several British TV series, including Crash, Being Human, Merlin and Misfits. She also had a starring role in US TV series Breaking In, starred in the film Open Grave and is set to feature in The Quiet Ones, due to be released in April this year.