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FEATURE<br />
A creative Mid lands<br />
SUTTON COLDFIELD ACTRESS NATALIE EDWARDS HAS RETURNED TO THE MIDLANDS TO PROVIDE<br />
AN EXCITING PLATFORM FOR BUDDING WRITERS. AMY NORBURY DISCOVERS MORE<br />
SUTTON COLDFIELD<br />
ACTRESS NATALIE EDWARDS.<br />
PHOTO BY HELEN YOUNG<br />
Natalie Edwards came to acting a little later in life<br />
than many budding stars. Born and raised in Sutton<br />
Coldfield, Natalie’s first foray into a career in the arts<br />
was as a model but she always harboured ambitions<br />
of making it on stage and screen.<br />
It wasn’t until she hit her late twenties that Natalie<br />
finally took the plunge and moved to New York<br />
to pursue her dream. And while she excelled on<br />
stage and in front of the camera, it was Natalie’s<br />
entrepreneurial spirit which really set her apart from<br />
her peers.<br />
Alongside training and working as an actor, Natalie<br />
set up her own production company - Transition<br />
Stage Company - to help other budding actors and<br />
creatives on the road to success.<br />
And now, back in her home city of Birmingham,<br />
it is Natalie’s drive to help other creatives which<br />
has is the catalyst behind her latest venture - Enter<br />
Stage Write. This exciting competition aims to tap<br />
into the nation’s - and particularly the Midlands’ -<br />
undiscovered talent in a bid to find the next big stage<br />
or screen writer.<br />
“I’d class myself as an ‘actorpreneur’,” says Natalie.<br />
“I’m a producer and actor, and I also organise events<br />
to give creatives a platform.<br />
“I decided I wanted to be an actor in my early<br />
twenties but I just didn’t have the confidence to go<br />
for it. When I hit 27 I had a quarter-life crisis and<br />
saved all of my money so I could move to New York<br />
and go to film school.<br />
“I decided to go to New York instead of drama<br />
school in the UK because New York Film Academy<br />
also offered producing as well as acting, and that<br />
suited my personality.<br />
“There also aren’t many opportunities for women<br />
of colour in the UK; big name actors like Thandie<br />
Newton and Idris Elba have all made it in the States<br />
first and then come back to the UK. I thought I just<br />
wouldn’t get into a drama school in the UK.”<br />
Natalie enrolled on an acting course at the New York<br />
Film Academy and worked alongside international<br />
students from both the School of Visual Arts and<br />
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