A budding young Kent actor is taking on a role made famous by Zac Efron in the movie Hairspray.

Toby Turpin, from Minster, Sheppey, played a moody teenager in a commercial for the Novotel Hotel chain on Channel 5 earlier this year and also took the lead role in a music video for the track Vargo by Radio 1 DJ Danny Howard and the Futuristic Polar Bears.

Now, the 14-year-old is playing Link Larkin in a stage show of Hairspray at Dartford’s Orchard Theatre.

Sarah Palmer of Fulston Manor School, which Toby attends, says: “Toby is one to watch, as I am certain his ambition will take him wherever he chooses to go.”

See Toby in Hairspray performed by In The Wings Productions at Dartford’s Orchard Theatre from Friday April 17 until Sunday, April 19. Tickets cost £18. Visit
www.orchardtheatre.co.uk or call 01322 220000.