AMANDA Fairclough had a burning ambition to become an actress, but it wasn't until she reached her 30s that she managed to make that dream a reality, landing parts in Shameless, Cops, Coronation Street and Cutting It. Now, through her acting school, she hopes to give youngsters the confidence and knowledge to realise their own dreams. Gayle McBain reports.

A LEADING role in Coronation Street is many young actors' dream job - but Amanda Fairclough is quick to bring her own students back down to earth.

Her acting school does not claim to give actors a fast-track route to soap stardom - if any one of her pupils made it big then that would be an added bonus.

Amanda believes "making it" as an actor or actress could be as simple as getting regular work - and that's something she knows all about.

This bubbly 41-year-old has rarely been out of work since becoming an actress seven years ago and, although she isn't a permanent fixture in a television soap, believes she is lucky to be doing something she loves.

When her young students ask her if she can "get them on to television" she tells them she can't.

"They always want to be in something like Coronation Street and think I can get them there. They see the young actors on the television soaps and they want to do the same. They want the fame and stardom.

"I don't promise them anything. It is incredibly difficult to get a leading part on television and it would be wrong of me to tell them I can make it happen," she said.

But her acting school will give them all the skills they need to make it big - after that it is up to them.

Amanda believes she is lucky to be doing a job she loves and she is determined to share her enthusiasm through her acting school, Angels Drama Centre, which she runs each Saturday morning at the Christ Church hall in Heaton.

She is the perfect person to teach them all about perseverance, determination and following a dream as Amanda had to wait until she was a 34-year-old mum-of-two before achieving her ambition of becoming an actress, yet it was something she had hoped for since being a little girl.

"My parents wouldn't let me do it. They told me I should get a proper job," said Amanda. So she had several "proper jobs" before her dream became reality.

It was while she was working as a company's area manager that Amanda, who is divorced, decided to make the career change that would completely alter her life.

She went to Bolton College and then Salford University and with two young children at home- her girls are now aged 21 and 15 - it wasn't easy.

"The girls were very tolerant," said Amanda, who lives in Hope Street North, Horwich.

Now the girls, Leona, her elder daughter, and Alicia, are proud as punch of their mother.

She has appeared in Coronation Street - she was a nurse - and had parts in Heartbeat, Fat Friends and more recently Shameless and Outlaws. She recently finished filming the latest series of Cutting It, the hairdressing drama shot in Manchester. You will also have seen Amanda on television advertisements and in the television drama Cops. "Cops was great because it was filmed in Bolton so I didn't have far to go," said Amanda.

Not that she minds travelling for work. "I love what I do so that isn't a problem," she said.

Her favourite work is comedy. She has also done plenty of theatre acting and is involved in school drama productions.

It all sounds incredibly glamorous but Amanda is quick to point out that it is not - and this is something she stresses to her students.

"I make them understand that a great deal of your time will be spent standing around and waiting for your scene to be shot. It can be very boring. The main thing is to be working. A lot of people think actors are all very rich and famous. But that is just not true.

"We very often don't know when the next job will be so it can be difficult, particularly when there are bills to pay," she said.

Her drama classes attract budding actors and also youngsters in need of a confidence boost. "Drama is great for helping children get some confidence," she said.

Her pupils learn all about camera work, have step-by-step vocal exercises, discover how to create new characters, find out all about movement, mime and script work and are also taught all about audition techniques.

The students, who range in age from six to 16, put on a show twice a year to demonstrate to their parents just how far they have come.

If any of her prodigies is interested in an acting career Amanda said she can teach them how to present a performance CV and can put them in touch with local agents.

The rest, however, will be up to them and their own determination to succeed.

l Anyone interested in finding out more about Amanda's classes should ring 07929 823110.