WEARING a cardboard box on your head and pretending to be an astronaut might not appear to be the start of a career.

But for Sam Barrett from Bishops Lydeard, the long road to becoming an actor started when he was six-years-old and got a cardboard box out of the shed.

Sam was born in Bangkok, Thailand while his father, Denis, was working there for the Shell oil company.

He moved with his parents to the USA, then onto the Netherlands and when he was 13, he was sent off to Boarding School in Surrey.

When his father retired, his parents (Denis and Susan) moved back to England and set up home in Bishops Lydeard in Somerset.

After Boarding School, Sam embarked on a degree in Musical Theatre at Arts Ed in London.

Sam graduated in Summer 2016 and since then has undertaken roles in “The Fix” and “Moby Dick”, both at London’s New Union Theatre, together with the role of Posthumus in Shakespeare’s Cymbeline at the Space Theatre in London.

Now, 23, Sam is playing the lead male role of Jimmy Smith in the UK Tour of Thoroughly Modern Millie, where he is playing opposite Joanne Clifton.

Somerset County Gazette:

Speaking about acting and how he got seduced by the stage he said: “I have always wanted to be a actor ever since I was a kid.

“I think it all started when I was six-years-old and I took a cardboard box out of the shed and pretended I was an astronaut.

“By the time I was 16-years-old I knew I wanted to get into acting and began singing and dancing when I went into musical theatre and drama school.

“When I thought about becoming an actor I did think about all the glitz and glamour but it is a job I enjoy doing.

“It is much more than a job, if I can send one person home from the theatre happy after watching the show and enjoying my performance. I I can do that then I am happy. I do not live for the applause or the accolades but rather for the laughter and enjoyment of the audience.

“I will never stop learning and working with great people like I am at the moment then I cannot help but learn.