| Meet Australia's Own Wizard. But sorry I don't have his picture, gotta scan it soon. Sydney boy Rowan Witt dazzled casting agents at the local auditions - so after beating more than 40,000 Harry hopefuls worldwide, Rowan found himself jetsetting halfway across the world to England to battle it out with the final four look - alikes for the once-in-a-lifetime role. ' After auditioning in Sydney a lady judge said:" You are Harry Potter," so I thought I must have done OK,' Rowan smiles. It's been a long and incredible adventure for the 12-year-old Sydney schoolboy from Hunters Hill, who got his first acting agent at the age of four. He's scooped roles as a girl pretending to be a boy in Home and Away, the lead as Oliver Twist in the children's program Escape of the Artful Dodger, as well as a small part in The Matrix. Still, the Harry Potter news came as something of a shock. 'After the last Sydney audition we forgot all about it. Then my agent suddenly rang and said:" Don't cut your hair - you have to go to England next week." 'I was in complete shock. It was like a dream come true.' Rowan's magical adventure was shard with his parents Carol and David and twin sister and fellow actor Eleanor. They packed their bags and took off to England for 4 days of intense rehearsal and auditions, and all enjoyed a taste of star treatment. 'It was so exciting. We got to fly first class because the film company only files their rested,' Rowan says. 'Then when we arrived at the airport there was a limo waiting and the driver handed us 300 [$900] spending money for the day we got 300 a day too.I had 24 hours to rest and then it was straight into the auditioning process,' he says. But after all the glitz and glamour the final decision was handed down quickly. 'I got a phone call telling me I didn't get the part,' Rowan says. 'For a day I was pretty disappointed, but then I started thinking about it, and it would have been hard when I came back to Sydney and all my friends and my dog would've forgotten me. 'I also would have had to find somewhere to live over there, so I guess it all turned out for the best.' Rowan may not have got the role of his dreams, but he's never far from the Potter character lurking inside of him, 'I've been doing ads for Foxtel as Harry, so who knows, I might be Australia's Harry Potter!' Now that Rowan's whirlwind wizard adventure is over and he's settled back into reality, what will his next move be? 'When I grow up I'd like to win a Nobel prize. That'd be great.' There's no doubting that this is a very ambitious little boy! A little bit TOO ambitious. |