Manchester City academy footballer turned drama student wins BBC bursary award

A drama student, once affiliated with a Premier League football club, has spoken of his delight at winning a BBC Bursary award.

Tyler Cameron, 28, from Hammersmith has won the BBC Carleton Hobbs Bursary Award after attending his first acting class only four years ago.

Mr Cameron was one of three actors awarded a bursary. He will join the Radio Drama Company in late July once he has completed his Professional Acting course at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in Talgarth Road, Hammersmith.

At the age of eight, Mr Cameron was scouted by Manchester City and joined the club’s youth academy where he spent five years before he was released at 13.

Since he was a child, Mr Cameron loved acting however, university was not the norm in his family so he chose to seek employment. He worked in several retail shops as a shop assistant before he moved to an engineering company.

At the age of 24, Mr Cameron tagged along with a friend who was attending an acting class which changed his life.

He said: “Ever since I was kid, I always loved acting. I used to love doing impersonations and different voices and always used to make my family laugh. 

“I remember my friend said he was going to this acting class, and I asked him if it was ok for me to come and watch him, but I ended up doing a read-in for the Wolf of Wall Street.

“From that moment, I knew I didn’t want to do anything else but act.

“Yes, I might have been a promising footballer and could have maybe gone on to play professionally but my heart was never really in it.

“Acting is always what I’ve really wanted to do.”

Mr Cameron applied for a scholarship to LAMDA and was offered a place at the renowned drama school in September 2020.

The bursary award is named after actor, Carleton Hobbs, OBE, who portrayed Sherlock Holmes in 80 adaptations in a series of radio dramas. 

Mr Cameron was commended for ‘Best Solo’ for his three monologues: Not Knowing (written by himself), British anthology film series, Small Axe, and For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy by playwright Ryan Calais Cameron.

He: “I was overwhelmed when I got the call from Rebecca Wilmshurst at the BBC to say I had won the award. 

“It meant that I had been recognised for something unknowingly that I had been doing since I was a child. 

“To know that I’ve been selected to be a voice in the BBC is so fulfilling and a dream come true. 

“It’s recognition and validation for all the hard work I’ve put in at LAMDA these past three years and I cannot wait to start in July.”

Pictured top: Tyler Cameron on stage, and Tyler as a boy in his Manchester City kit (Picture: Cameron family and LAMDA)