Xtravision man goes from behind counter to in front of the camera

Jonathan Clark, who once managed Xtravision on Baggot Street, has landed a top role in a romantic comedy that has aired in the US.

The film, Honeymoon For One, was shot on location in Ireland last year in association with the LA-based Larry Levinson production company for the Hallmark Channel.

Mr Clark plays the part of a glamorous LA ad exec, Miles.

"He's a bit scatterbrained, he's an artist, he knows that Eve (Sheridan) is going to get it right so he doesn't have to, he's off the hook. If she's not there all of a sudden, it's oh-oh," he told the Herald. Victoria Smurfit also has a role in the movie.

The chance to play in Honeymoon For One came about when the casting director saw him in the film Strange Days and asked him to audition in Dublin.

Asked about the experience of working on Honeymoon For One, Jonathan said: "I loved it. Working on film sets feels very natural to me -- it feels like home -- because I grew up on film sets."

His parents are both actors. His Canadian mother is Kay Hawtrey, who is the grandmother in the TV series Max And Ruby, and his English father John has been acting since he was a child. Jonathan says he still goes back to the Xtravision store regularly.

He says working in the shop was a way for him to talk about movies and was a rehearsal for other movie jobs, acting and screen writing.

hnews@herald.ie