Charlene dances in Dame Judi movie

The Bexhill girl has appeared in two television shows, an eagerly anticipated film about the Windmill Theatre, and is currently in a touring theatre production of Beauty and The Beast.

The film, Mrs Henderson Presents, in which she is one of eight Millerettes, stars Dame Judi Dench, Bob Hoskins, and Will Young.

It will be released on November 25th, but Charlene so far hasn't seen it because she has been working continuously around Britain, moving from theatre to theatre.

"Never in a million years did I think I would be dancing in a film alongside Judi Dench - I was straight out of college and right into that job. It was hard work at college, but worth every minute.

"You have got to have a passion for it and I always have, ever since I was little. This is all I wanted to do - I never thought about anything else, really.

Charlene, now 20, has been dancing since she joined the Janice Blake School of Dancing when she was just five years old.

She was a pupil at Bexhill High when she left at 14 to go to full-time stage school in Brighton, followed by three years at the Lane Theatre Arts in Epsom, Surrey, where she worked hard, having won a scholarship to go there.

"I had the best training that I ever could have wished for."

She graduated last June, and in July started six weeks contract with the BBC series Passport To Paradise, with Denise Van Outen and Johnny Vaughan.

Her next television appearance was in a Westlife special, called She's the One.

"Then my agent put me up to audition for this film. There were 800 dancers there, with loads of cuts and re-calls. I ended up doing five or six auditions for it. At the final one, eight of us were told we had it. I was absolutely thrilled.

"Obviously when you go back for each audition you don't really know how you are getting on, other than they keep wanting to see you.

"You think - they must like me. But you don't know if you have the right look, or whatever.

"But they told us straight away, normally you have to wait a week to find out if you've got a job. It is torture. You have to be pretty strong to be in this businesses.

"When I got the job I didn't know how big the film was going to be, or who would be in it.

"A month ago, there was a viewing for the cast and crew. But I am touring in Beauty and The Beast so I couldn't get the day off to watch it. All the other seven Millerettes have seen it ... but I will be the first one to the cinema to see it."

Her dream now is to work in the West End.

"That is my big ambition, to be in the West End, and hopefully I will. I just want to keep on working. It is a hard career.

"I have got so many knockbacks to come probably, but I have been lucky so far. I have been working constantly since I left college 16 months ago. I have achieved quite a lot in that short time."

Her parents Tony and Barbara, of Westville road, have always been behind her, ever since those early days of classes at the Janice Blake school.

"They have supported me in everything.

"When I used to do the festivals and competitions it was my mum, my nan and my nan's sister who always were with me - all three of them touring round the country with me. I had all the props and costumes, everything, when I was younger.

"I have good memories."