DREAM COME TRUE…

Chloe Carrington is making a name for herself on the world stage for her impressive performances in musical theatre

Living in the family home in the Ribble Valley, Chloe Carrington always dreamed of being on stage. Today, she is fulfilling that ambition taking some of the best roles in musical theatre having worked in the West End as well as travelling to Dubai and China to perform.

Living with her parents Bryan and Donna Hindle and brother Chris in her early years, Chloe first began acting at the age of nine when she attended the Janet Sutcliffe School of Dance in Longridge: “My parents were always very supportive but were never too pushy. For me it was a genuine love of dance. Not long after joining I did a show with Janet’s school and because I was the youngest in the class I got to be lifted onto the older girls’ shoulders for the final pose, and I just remember how cool that felt!”

Chloe went on to attend Ribblesdale High School where she became involved in school productions, playing the role of Tallulah in Bugsy Malone.

“I’d never played a part or had lines before, and I had to sing! I had always loved singing into my hair brush in my bedroom and jumping on the karaoke on family holidays, but singing in a show in front of lots of people – that was scary!”

Studying GCSE in Drama, Chloe began to realise that she could maybe forge a career on stage: “I wanted to take it more seriously as I had developed so much more passion and confidence in myself.”

Joining a drama class in Manchester was the first step that gave her the opportunity to perform at the Lowry in Salford, work on TV sets and audition for a number of TV roles.

Struggling to choose a college where she could study A levels, Chloe discovered a course at Pendleton College in Salford, which had a centre for excellence in Performing Arts.

“Here I could study for a BTEC in Musical Theatre, I could sing, dance and act all day, every day, five days a week!”

“The two years that I attended Pendleton were full of learning curves. I was a little fish in a big pond – or so I thought I was at the time. I’ve since learnt ponds just keep getting bigger! I knew I had a lot to learn if I was going to try and get into one of the top drama schools in London.”

Chloe applied to five of the most popular drama schools in the capital and a series of auditions follows: “It was the first time I had been to London alone so the whole experience was really exciting and it made me grow up a lot,” recalls Chloe, who chose to attend the world-famous Italia Conti Academy, where she began studying in September 2013 when she was 19.

“I had the time of my life training there, they drilled a very good discipline into me which has stuck with me ever since.”

In her final year Chloe was made Head Girl of the academy, representing the school at events, meeting prospective students and supporting fellow students.

Along with other third year students she took part in a showcase at The Playhouse Theatre in London’s West End, where each are put before agents, casting directors, directors, choreographers and writers, in the hope of being talent spotted and getting someone to represent them.

“I was lucky enough to get a great agent, who still represents me now, and we work really well as a team together,” adds Chloe, who went on to make her first professional appearance in 2016, just after graduating, as Jeanie in the musical Hair at the Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester.

“I felt extremely lucky to be working alongside a group of incredible people. It didn’t come without its challenges as the musical is well known for its nudity scene at the end of act one. But fortunately it was handled extremely tastefully by our director.

“I was actually nominated for Best Actress in a Musical by The Stage for the 2017 Stage Debut Awards!”

After ‘Hair’, which went on to transfer to London, Chloe was given the opportunity to be part of a ‘live’ version of Moulin Rouge with Secret Cinema – one of her favourite childhood films.

“I played the role of the famous actress Sarah Bernhardt every night in an immersive world where the audience were in amongst the actors. It was a very intense and demanding job. As if the dream couldn’t get any better being in the world of Montmartre every night, I was also understudying the role of Satine, which really is a dream role,” says Chloe, who has recently returned from touring after working on the musical Jersey Boys for six months.

“It was a great experience having the opportunity to perform in such big theatres like the Dubai Opera House, which has Ferrari leather seats, and the Guangzhou Opera House. Touring and living in hotels takes a little bit of getting used to, but when you arrive at a five star hotel that offers you a cooked breakfast every morning for three weeks it quickly becomes more than bearable!”

“However, for the first time ever, I was away from home for Christmas. That was the hardest thing for me about touring because I am very close to all my family.”

“But getting to see the world whilst doing what you love is always going to be an amazing opportunity.”

Chloe, who now lives in London, hopes to one day build her own company dedicated to musical theatre, introducing new generations to this art form.

Meanwhile, she has set her sights on other dream roles: “Obviously I would give anything to play big roles like Eponine in Les Miserables, Elphaba in Wicked or Scaramouche in We Will Rock You, but what I would really love to do is originate a role in a new musical that has never been done before.”

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