Aussie teen grabs Hollywood lead

Callan McAuliffe. Photo: Ben Glass

Christine Sams, The Sun-Herald, reports

Sydney actor Callan McAuliffe will start filming new film next week.

Young Australian actor Callan McAuliffe has been named as the star of a new Hollywood indie film Blue Potato, playing opposite Sara Sutherland (actor Kiefer Sutherland’s daughter).

Seventeen-year-old McAuliffe from Sydney is a rising star in the US and his new role has been reported by the industry bible, Variety magazine.

The film, which will be made by indie director Aron Gaudet, explores the story of two teenage boys working on a potato farm. Sutherland will play McAuliffe’s love interest in the film. McAuliffe also appears as the young Jay Gatsby in the upcoming Baz Luhrmann film, The Great Gatsby.

He grew up in the Sydney suburb of Clontarf and started acting as an eight-year-old, making occasional appearances in local television shows including Blue Water High and Packed to the Rafters.

He received his first big break in the US when he scored the leading role in Flipped, which was directed by Rob Reiner. But it was his appearance in the Steven Spielberg produced sci fi teen genre film I Am Number Four which brought him to the attention of Hollywood’s heavy-hitters.

Filming for McAuliffe’s new movie Blue Potato begins in Maine, in the United States, next week.