ESP TALKS TO SKINS STAR LUKE PASQUALINO

As we celebrate our ten years of producing ESP Magazine we’re celebrating ten local success stories. This month Sharon McAllister meets Peterborough’s newest star, Luke Pasqualino, skateboarding Freddie in E4’s Skins…

It’s fair to say things have gone a little crazy in the world of Luke Pasqualino lately. Trips to LA, rubbing shoulders with the stars and being mobbed every time he hits the city centre for a beer! But hey, that’s what starring in a hit TV show does for you…

This 19 year-old former Walton school pupil was according to his dad Pep ‘a bit of a handful as a kid’ – pretty hyperactive, so wisely his parents enrolled him at a drama workshop at Lady Lodge Arts Centre in Orton to expend some of that energy. It was there he got the acting bug and had his first role in a performance of Bugsy Malone, loving the splurge guns at age ten.

That was it; he had a passion for acting and signed up with an agent. Once he left school he cracked on with as many auditions as possible before he eventually got his big break in a series he was already a huge fan of.

“We’re all absolutely over the moon,” says his dad Pep. “We just had a feeling when he was young, he was just such a natural entertainer – the family entertainer really. We turn up at breakfast with morning faces and Luke will come down and shoot a joke and make us all laugh and put us in good spirits.”

With Skins, Luke was suddenly thrown in at the deep end and has had to learn the art of TV acting and cope with a punishing schedule of early mornings and late nights.

“It is weird, it’s my first TV appearance and the first month and a half was all new to me, like how to hit a mark and camera angles and knowing where to lean and not to lean because of shadows and things like that. You’ve got to take a lot into consideration but I’ve really got to grips with it now and it comes more naturally.”

Luke’s no stranger to being in the limelight having had a bash at modelling, particularly for his dad’s hair salon Image International in Spalding. But while the cameras weren’t a problem, starring as Freddie drifting through life in a dream on his skate board was, as Luke doesn’t actually skateboard!

“Part of it is me, like the small stops and little bits and bobs where you can’t use a double. I had a few weeks training on how to conduct myself on a skateboard without breaking my neck, but other than that it was a skate double.”

So does he relate to his character? ”Yeah, I mean Freddie’s a really nice guy, I think Luke’s a really nice guy…” he says with a cheeky grin. “The other bits like skate boarding and the annoying sister, the dead mother and the annoying father I don’t really relate to!”

When the first episode aired the Pasqualinos held a big party at the house – “I think we had half of Peterborough over! El vino did flow.” So who’s his big biggest fan? “I don’t know… I think it’s my grandmother! Facebook’s gone a bit mad though…”

Since Skins aired, Luke’s been causing a stir in bars in Peterborough and Stamford, regularly getting recognised with people queuing up to have their photos taken with him. Life has certainly changed pretty rapidly for this Peterborough guy, but he’s taking it in his lengthy stride.

“It’s nice when people come up to you, it’s a nice complement. It’s a way of them saying they like what you’re doing. Everyone’s been really supportive, I had a few people come up to me the other night and say ‘I really like what you’re doing, congratulations’ and gave me a handshake and stuff like that.”

Of course with all the Skins promotional activities he’s out an about in London a lot now and the invites are flowing for bashes like the recent Brits launch party – “I Saw Cheryl Cole and my jaw nearly broke as it hit the ground. That was good!

“I’m backwards and forwards to London all the time. I go about four times a week, for promotion or the Skins parties we do. I get to catch up with all the cast members and it’s all good experience and good promotion.”

As a teenager, working on a series like Skins with such a young cast must be a great laugh and Luke says the cast have really hit it off.

“We all get on like an absolute house on fire, and that’s quite unheard of actually. We’ve been told on some series people work on they don’t get on because there’s a big group of people, lots of different personalities. But we all get on really well, and respect each other’s views and personal space so we don’t go too mad.”

Fingers crossed for a fourth series of Skins but we may lose Luke to LA all too soon as he has his eye on a movie career, so if you see him out an about now’s your time to grab that photo with Peterborough’s newest star.

“I went over to LA in January because BBC America have bought the third series so I went over with Lily who plays Naomi so that was really good, did a bit of promo and stuff. Met a few really good people and casting directors and there’s been good feedback.

“It is brilliant and the opportunities are brilliant. I mean look at Dev Patel who’s just been in Slumdog Millionaire, he was a Skins character and he’s done really well for himself. It gives you the inspiration to follow in his footsteps.”