How Yorkshire talent agency put James Martin on path to being first Oscar winner with Down's Syndrome

It was a double celebration for the actor as it was his birthday and he was serenaded with a round of Happy Birthday by the audience filled with the world’s most famous actors and directors. Colin Farrell gave James, who is from Belfast, the thumbs-up at the end of the song.

The Leeds-based YAFTA Talent Agency had put James forward to star in An Irish Goodbye and the agency’s founder and managing director Charlotte Armitage said she was thrilled to wake up to the good news on Monday morning.

"I went to bed thinking, ‘I feel like they are in with a really good chance’ but obviously you never want to think they are going to get it.

"If nothing else, James has had an amazing time in Irish pubs playing his harmonica and been meeting with all sots of people like Colin Farrell. They have just had an amazing time.

"When this film came into the agency, I remember thinking, ‘It looks great’ but I had no idea it was going to end up being this big.

"Short films are notoriously quite difficult to get movement with. So for something to have gone this far – I don’t normally like using the word dream because it can be a bit trite but it really is like a dream.”

The film was first cast before Covid and was put on hold before being picked back up. It is set in Northern Ireland and follows two estranged brothers who come together after their mother’s death.

Charlotte said: “We put James forward for it and James and his family liked the script and we liked the script. We thought James would be perfect for it.

"They saw him for an audition and he got the part. It then took years to happen but eventually it did.”

She said she had messages James and his dad to say congratulations on the win.

It is also a major moment for YAFTA, which was launched around 10 years ago as an acting academy and agency by Charlotte with an ambition of representing actors from minority backgrounds, including those with disabilities.

The agency helped Liam Bairstow become the first actor with Down’s Syndrome to get a lead role in Coronation Street, and also represented James Moore, an actor with cerebral palsy who won a National Television Award for his role in Emmerdale.

She said: “The academy has actors of all ages, backgrounds, abilities and disabilities. Not all of our actors have disabilities but our academy is wholly inclusive. I’m a mixed race woman and my brother has severe disabilities so I grew up seeing what it was like to feel very isolated or just struggle with those realities. There was never any representation of that on screen.

"When I started my agency, it was really important to me we had that fair inclusion and we offered opportunities to actors with disabilities and that actors with disabilities were seen for parts on screen.

"They are good actors and there is no reason why they shouldn’t be getting that work. If people apply for our agency and they have the training and the talent to succeed, we will offer representation and do our best to get people seen for work.”

She said James has some exciting new projects in the pipeline on the back of the film’s success. "He has gone from working in Starbucks to this amazing platform. It has been life-changing.”