Former Ashburton College student Kelley Kerr-Young is busy working as an actor in Melbourne. Photo Linda ClarkeFormer Ashburton College student Kelley Kerr-Young has just finished shooting a short film in Australia.

Kerr-Young works as an actor in Melbourne and is also a member of the all-female film and theatre collective Girls Act Good.

The group raised funds to shoot The Association, a social thriller about the perfect domestic life, by first staging a theatre version of it.

The film now needs final editing before it can be entered into national and international film festivals.

Kerr-Young left Ashburton College at the end of 2001 to attend the National Academy of Singing and Dramatic Arts. She graduated three years later with a Bachelor in Performing Arts and worked around New Zealand for several years before moving to Melbourne.

She and husband Stephen Camp have just bought a section in the suburb of Manor Lakes and Kerr-Young is busy following her passion for acting and singing.

The 34-year-old’s personal brand is awkward comedy and she has been on stage in several well-known Melbourne acting houses.

Kerr-Young’s parents Paul and Barbara Young now live and train horses in West Melton, but when the family lived in Mid Canterbury she was also involved in equestrian and rugby.

After winning awards at the Sheilah Winn Festival of Shakespeare in her final year at college, she had to make a choice when a prestigious acting camp that co-incided with the South Island Secondary Schools girls’ rugby tournament and the South Island Young Rider Show Jumping camp.

She chose acting and has never looked back.

The Girls Act Good collective was set up by Australian producer Jennifer Monk and is aimed at generating more theatre opportunities for women.

The group is looking for funds to help polish the final product, with an original score and soundtrack and visual effects.

If you want to help crowdfund The Association to its final stage, go to https://australianculturalfund.org.au/projects/the-association/

By Linda Clarke © The Ashburton Guardian - 30 August 2017