Jack Martin stunned the Canberra audience last week when he took home the award for best actor in a featured role in a musical.
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The Canberra Area Theatre Award was for his performance in Griffith’s community production of Beauty and the Beast in which Martin played the role of Lefou.
Martin went through a whirlwind of emotions on the night.
“I felt pretty good at the start because I knew my category wasn’t up for a while,” he said.
“Then it got to intermission and I started feeling the pressure a little bit more.
“Right before my category I was feeling it pretty bad."
Even once his name was announced it took a moment for him to realise what had happened.
“I heard them say ‘Jack Martin’ and and went into a bit of shock," the award winner said.
“All of a sudden you’re in front of all these people and you’re giving a speech, it was incredible.”
He said throughout the night the award winners were given huge ovations, then came Martin’s name.
“It felt pretty great,” he said
“The audience was full of Canberra kids and there were big cheers for them and they called out ‘Jack Martin’ and my grandma was the only one clapping because my parents were holding the cameras.
“It was pretty funny actually.”
The triple threat loves to entertain people and says he “absolutely” wants to pursue a career in entertainment and the arts in some form.
Asked if he had any tips or tricks that got him this far he said there was one piece of advice that rung true.
“Somebody told me that if you’re nervous then you haven’t prepared enough,” he said.
“There’s a difference between that and being anxious.
“If you’re nervous then you might forget you’re lines or miss a cue, but being anxious and jittery because you’re excited, that’s what you want, you want to use that excitement in your performance.”
Right now he’s preparing for Marian Catholic College’s performance of Grease in which he will play the role of Danny Zuko.