Guernsey actor lands leading role in a forthcoming film
A GUERNSEY actor has found himself having a run of success recently – appearing in a film starring one of the UK’s leading actors, acting in a long-running drama series and being cast in a leading role in a forthcoming movie all in the space of about a year.
All this has taken place since the start of 2021, when 22-year-old Harry Giubileo returned to the UK after spending much of the previous year in the island.
A former Elizabeth College student, he was a regular at the Guernsey Eisteddfod and also trod the boards in Gadoc’s Christmas pantomime.
On leaving college he did a one-year course at Mountview academy of theatre arts followed by two years at the Musical Theatre Academy.
Soon after finishing, the first lockdown hit and while back in Guernsey he took part in some local productions.
These included playing a role in the short locally-made film Occupied, taking on his first professional acting job in a new play premiered locally called Branching Out and appearing in Accidental Death of An Anarchist.
It was after he moved back to the UK in early 2021 that his agent got him an audition for a role in an upcoming film to be distributed by Sky Cinema, Last Train to Christmas.
He self-filmed an audition scene and was stunned when he got the part. ‘It was completely unexpected,’ he said.
The film stars Michael Sheen as a nightclub manager who experiences some strange goings-on when he boards a train.
Harry’s role was as the same character at the age of 15. ‘I had about 10 minutes screen time,’ he said. ‘One big scene and another little scene near the end.’
Filming took place at The Bay studios in Swansea and Mr Giubileo said the experience was amazing – even though he did not have chance to meet the star. ‘We were on set one day together but it was when I was filming, so we never interacted.’
It was not long before a chance to audition for a role in the BBC’s medical drama Holby City, and after another self-taped audition and a Zoom call with the director, Mr Giubileo found himself on set at BBC’s Elstree studios in October.
His role was that of a teenage footballer who goes into the hospital with a bad wrist, only to find he has heart problems too.
Harry said he had a great time on the set, and said he got along especially well with leading actor Alex Walkinshaw. ‘He was my main scene partner. I was one of his patients. He became quite a good friend and he taught me a lot. He was so helpful all the time I was on-set.’
The current 23rd series is the drama’s last, and Mr Giubileo said the cast talked about their sadness at it coming to an end: ‘They were all sad and they were talking about the plans they had for the wrap party at the very end of it.
‘They understood it [ending] was out of their control.’
He will next be seen on our screens in April, in a drama due to be shown on Netflix in which he has a role in one episode but which he did not want to say anything about just yet.
Perhaps more exciting, and also under wraps for now, is a lead role in film which is due to start shooting in the spring.
‘It’s subject to finance and contractual stuff,’ he said, but was optimistic that it would get the go-ahead.
