Callum's love for acting started out when he was 7 years old when he won the opportunity to be part of a 2‐week workshop performing 'Alice in Wonderland' with Stagecoach. This was his very first role in his first play.

Callum's primary school final Year 6 production was the Western, comedy musical 'Ye-Ha!'. He played the main character Wilbur Hubbard. 

Callum's first major play whilst studying Acting at Kingston College was 'Teechers'. They performed this as a promenade piece of theatre, something Callum was completely new to.

When studying on the Level 3 Acting course at Kingston College, one assessment was a musical theatre showcase. Callum played roles such as (left to right images) Emmo (Our House), Brit (We Will Rock You), Dan Goodman (Next to Normal), Brian (Avenue Q), Sweeney/ Ensemble (Sweeney Todd), Ensemble (Carrie).

In April 2018, Callum noticed the Rose Theatre, Kingston were holding auditions for male actors to be members of the Community Chorus in Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’. The show marked the Rose Theatre’s 10th anniversary of classical performances. The show ran from the 13th April - 6th May 2018.

He performed with actors such as Mel Giedroyc, John Hopkins, Kate Lamb, Peter Guinness and more.

Callum's final show on the Level 4 Acting course at Kingston College was 'The Elephant Man'. There was only a cast of 5 so multi-rolling was put into effect and the actors took turns playing Merrick. Callum also played Countess, Princess Alexandra, Voice and Pinhead. 

The first show to be put on by Starlight Hampton Adult Theatre Company was a composers concert made up of the music by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Callum had the pleasure of singing the beautiful 'For Forever' from 'Dear Evan Hansen'.

During the 2020 Covid 19 Pandemic, Callum decided to create his own version of Christina Perri's 'A Thousand Years' using makaton sign language with his younger brother Ashley who has Downs Syndrome.

"I was inspired by the '50 Mums, 50 Kids, 1 Extra Chromosome' video which went viral in 2018. Both videos can be found on YouTube."  

Callum's university class were scheduled to perform a Greek play in the 2nd year of their university degree. The play was originally planned to be performed live but due to the rising COVID 19 cases at the time, they were forced into another lockdown and the play was performed on ZOOM.

Callum's first job as an extra was playing a prisoner in Danny Boyle's biopic series about the Sex Pistols, 'PISTOL'. They were recreating the scene when the Sex Pistols played a gig in Chelmsford Prison.

'Nothing' was a very interesting piece of theatre Callum's university class put together at the beginning of the 3rd year of their degree. They split one person monologues into 2 person scenes finding lines they could split between them. Callum and his partner, Haygan McDaid, later recreated the scene on camera as part of their showreel footage.

After being away from Starlight rehearsals and shows due to the COVID 19 Pandemic, Callum and the Starlight family finally returned to perform 'Smokey Joe's Cafe' in February 2022. He had solos in the songs 'Young Blood', 'Keep on Rollin', Kansas City and 'Little Egypt'.

Callum's Dissertation project 'Right Here or There' followed the story of Alex Phillips, who had recently passed on into the afterlife. Throughout the play, Alex revisits events and people in his life whilst trying to solve a mystery at the same time.

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This play took inspiration from 'Ghost', 'Next to Normal' and 'A Christmas Carol'/ any movie/ book that involves witnessing/ visiting ones past, present and future.

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Callum received fantastic feedback from his audience made up of his lecturers, classmates, family, friends and 1st and 2nd year degree students. They all loved the play and one classmate told Callum it was an emotional rollercoaster for her: "one moment I was belly laughing and the next I was balling my eyes out" which Callum has since said "that is exactly what I was going for".

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Callum has since considered revisiting and re-performing this play.

'13' was Callum's final major show at the end of his 3rd year at university. It was a play unlike anything he'd done before.

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"Dr Stephen Crossley was a very interesting character to play: he was a university lecturer who was also a highly controversial atheist and was severely suffering from lung cancer."

Callum's first paid acting work after graduating from university was to be a Product Testimonial for cycling shorts by Winx Wheels. He had to record all footage himself then send off to the company to edit. He used his own bike and the shorts were sent free and has been allowed to keep them.

'Love & War' was created by Lily Vincent-Roche, a friend of Callum's from university who had also been in 'Right Here or There'. The film followed the theme of Stockholm syndrome. Callum's character was investigating the case of the victim as a missing persons case.

'The Wedding Singer' was the first official musical with Starlight Hampton Adult Theatre Company. Callum played ensemble characters such as Harold Fonda (PICTURED), Waiter 1 & Ricky.

As the Easter event was coming to a close, Callum was informed about the next season: 'Mardi Grrra!', an animal themed carnival-like event. Being watched during Easter, Callum was cast as Chester the Jester for the 'Mane Stage' show: 'Carnival Spectacle'.

Following 'A Night of Variety', one of Callum's audience members informed him of a poet friend of theirs who, in a couple weeks, was due to read some of his poems at the '2023 Disability Expo' at the ExCeL Centre, London. They asked if Callum would attend and assist reading a couple of Dr Kane Holborn's poems at the Expo.

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Dr Kane Holborn (pictured with Callum) has Cerebral Palsy which limits his ability to move and speak clearly. Callum repeated Dr Holborn's talk as well as reading some of his poems for the audience.

Callum's next show with Starlight Theatre Company, following The Wedding Singer was another composers concert, this time: Lin Manuel-Miranda. 

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Callum sang You're Welcome being the second song in the show following 'We Know The Way' [Moana] and played the character of Felix in Encanto's 'We Don't Talk About Bruno'. He also performed in the all the company numbers which were a mixture of all Lin Manuel-Miranda's work. 

Following the end of 'Wilderfest', Callum was cast to stay on the Mini Stage playing both The Gruffalo and the presenter roles of Riley and Jude on the days he wasn't being The Gruffalo.

Riley is the presenter of the Cocomelon Dance-along show along with JJ and Cody. Jude is the presenter of The Gruffalo Interactive Giggles and Games show. 

In August 2023, Callum was approached by the casting director from 'Chaplins Pantos4kids' asking if he would like to return to tour with the company for a 2nd season; he agreed. 

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"Having toured with them the year before, they gave me a choice of where I would preferably like to tour and which character I would prefer to play. I selected either touring Bedfordshire or Suffolk, I was given Suffolk and I selected playing the comedy lead, which I was given."

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The company produce two pantomimes every year, a full 2 hour length show, being Cinderella this year and a shorter 90 minute show, Treasure Island. Callum toured Suffolk from the 23rd November - 20th December 2023, performing a total of 28 shows. 

On the 3rd January 2024, Chaplins called Callum stating the Buttons of the Birmingham troupe had fallen sick and asked if he would be able to travel up to Birmingham that same afternoon to cover for a few days, which he did. Callum performed in 7 more shows with the Birmingham troupe.  

In February 2024, Callum was approached by the producer of a short film for 3rd year Production students at the University of Creative Arts. The film had just lost the actor playing their lead role so needed to find someone very last minute which is when they came across Callum's Backstage profile claiming he looked perfect for the role.

Callum submitted  a self tape and by the next day was asked to join the cast and play the lead role in 'The Fish'. The filming took place on location in and around the Guildford/ Farnham area in Surrey over 5 days. The film was released in May 2024.

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In August 2024, the film was official selected to show at the 'Lift-Off First-Time Filmmaker Sessions 2024'.

In April, Callum came across a local mum's post on a local Facebook page asking for actors for her son's short film. Callum contacted the mum and was put in contact with her son, Oliver Turner Smith. 

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After submitting a self tape, Callum was cast as Stevie, the local postman. Filming took place over 3 days in Hersham, Surrey. 

Following 'Legally Blonde', Starlight's next concert was 'The Music of Elton John'. 

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Callum's songs included a duet of 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart', a 4-piece 'boyband-version' of 'Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word' (PICTURED) and a solo line in the company's finale number 'I'm Still Standing'.

The Dust of Dracula was Callum's first time performing in an immersive murder mystery game performance. The play had multiple, alternative endings meaning the actors had to be prepared for something different in each performance.  

The show also involved the aspect of interacting with the audience in character. Between acts, the characters would walk around the audience answering any questions they had to help solve the case. 

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Playing Frankenstein's monster meant Callum had to wear heavy makeup and bulky costumes to increase his size which included high-platform boots and large shoulder pads.

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"I was meant to have prosthetic scars as during rehearsals, we created a mould of my face for the scars to be properly made to fit my face but apparently they didn't work out very well meaning I just used scar wax. The below photo is from the first show when I did not have the wax to use". 

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This show took place across the two weeks of October half term.

Callum was part of Theatre4kids from the age of 7 to 15 and in that time, he performed in many great venues including Hampton Grammar School, Kingston Grammar School, Her Majesty’s Theatre, home of The Phantom of The Opera and many more.

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This photo is from one of his final solos 'Oklahoma!' at Her Majesty's Theatre, London.

Callum studied at Rydens Enterprise School between 2011 and 2015. Each year a musical was put on, those being Gypsy Rose Lee, Footloose, Bugsy Malone, Sweeney Todd and Evita. He played ensemble characters in all of these.

Shortly after leaving Theatre4kids Callum joined Surrey Youth Music Theatre who were a new musical theatre company. Their first show was the school edition of 'Les Misérables' at the Capitol Theatre, Horsham. 

In the 2nd year of his Level 3 Acting course at Kingston College, Callum performed A Midsummer Night's Dream in a Traverse theatre style. 

Callum joined Starlight Youth Theatre Company in January 2018, '13 the musical' was his first show with them. 

"Archie is possibly one of the most fun characters I've ever had the chance of playing. Firstly I was an 18-year-old playing a 13-year-old which already added comedy. He has to walk around with crutches due to having a degenerative neuromuscular disorder but that wouldn't bother him in the slightest.

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I had to work on my comedic timing and physicality for this role, especially since I had to spend the whole musical wearing crutches.  I also used our difference in vocal range to my comedic advantage because during one song, my voice broke on an especially high note so I decided to quickly change to a very low note which the audience found hilarious!"

'Changes' was a musical compilation show created by Starlight Youth Theatre Company. Throughout the show Callum sung songs such as Light at the End of the Tunnel (Starlight Express), Seize the Day (Newsies), House of Fun (Our House) and Grease Lightning (Grease) (PICTURED). 

"To this day, Grease Lightning is still one of my favourite songs I've performed."

The COVID 19 Pandemic hit during the middle of Callum's 1st year at university. He was required to make a short film as one of their assessments and this was his creation. The film can be found on his YouTube channel.

Towards the end of 2020, Starlight Theatre Company's director introduced a new YouTube series opportunity for anyone in the company to have a go at. They could sing whatever song they wanted; Callum chose 'Words Fail' from 'Dear Evan Hansen'. The video can still be found on YouTube.

During the 2nd year of his degree, one of the 3rd year students cast Callum in their dissertation project following the theme of animal rights. He played the main victim, Tyke the elephant. The project was originally meant to be a play but was changed to a film due to the COVID 19 Pandemic. 

In May 2021, during the 2nd year of their degree, Callum's university class had a musical theatre assessment. Unfortunately, due to COVID 19, they weren't able to perform any company numbers, so all their pieces were solo. Callum performed as 'Scuttle the Seagull' with 'Positoovity' (The Little Mermaid) and 'Jamie Wellerstein' with 'A Miracle Would Happen' (The Last Five Years).

As part of their Classical acting module during their degree, Callum's university class explored Shakespeare, Restoration and Comedy of Manners scenes. Callum performed as Launcelot Gobbo (The Merchant of Venice), Benedick (Much Ado About Nothing), Captain Absolute (The Rivals) and Bill (Home and Beauty), respectfully. This image is from when Callum filmed his Launcelot Gobbo monologue for showreel footage.

During the 3rd year of their degree, everyone had the option to write their own Dissertations. These could take whatever form they wanted: play, film, radio play, poem, etc. 

Anthony Rhys, one of Callum's classmates asked if he would audition and be in his Dissertation project: 'Bank Play' which followed the story of a married couple running into an individual whilst they both try rob a bank for different reasons. Novisto was the husband of Cecilia.

Following the initial assessment performance in March, Anthony chose to enter his play into the 2022 Kingston FUSE Festival taking place in a studio in the Rose Theatre in July 2022. This photo is from the FUSE show.

A module during the 3rd year of their degree was to create a Fringe theatre style performance. The class followed the stories of 'The Tales of Beedle the Bard' and created a promenade show involving many different aspects of theatre: live and digital.

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This took place at The cornerHOUSE, Surbiton.

Following 'Smokey Joe's Cafe', the next Starlight concert was 'The Music of Queen'. Callum was originally meant to sing a duet of 'Under Pressure' but due to vocal difficulties, he changed to 'I Want It All' which allowed him to incorporate audience involvement, encouraging them to sing and clap along.

The September after graduating, Callum auditioned and was cast as 'Wishee Washee' in 'Aladdin' with 'Chaplins Pantos4kids'. His troupe was sent up to tour Scotland for 3 weeks in December. They performed a total of 34 shows over the 3 weeks. Residential rehearsals took place the week before at Gilwell Park.

Filmed at a very similar time to 'Love & War', 'Silhouette' was the project of a Masters Degree Film Making student at Kingston University. The film focused on Timothee, a very laid back student who would occasionally doze off in the middle of class

Following a major incident that has Timothee fearing for his life, he is a completely changed character by the end, suffering from PTSD.

'EGGSPLORERS' was Chessington's first Easter event. As this character Callum would roam the park playing with and entertaining the guests as well as awarding chocolate Easter eggs as prizes for the guests who had completed the Easter trail and figured out the secret password.

'A Night of Variety' was a full scale, 2.5 hour variety show Callum directed, produced, hosted and performed in.

"I reached out to a number of friends and colleagues I've met at different stages of my creative career casting them in the show giving them the choice to perform whatever they wanted (with my approval)."

The show included musical theatre, dance, comedy and magic, which Callum performed himself!

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It was almost a sell-out performance with there being less than 10 seats empty in a theatre that seats 156 total.

"This was by far the biggest project I had ever done as the only other time I directed something was 'Right Here or There' and that didn't involve any costs or 'real world aspects'."

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Following the success and reception of this show, Callum decided it is definitely worth doing another at some point in the future.

The next seasonal event at Chessington following 'Mardi Grrra' was 'WILDERFEST', a musical ​animal festival. 

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Callum was cast as 'The Gruffalo', performing down on Chessington's Mini Stage which attracts younger audiences. Performing as The Gruffalo was Callum's first time being a costume character.

As well as being cast as 'The Gruffalo', Callum was also cast as one of the theme parks roaming puppeteers.

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Callum roamed the park with Simon the Ostrich and Treasure and Buddy the 6-month-old baby giant pandas.

Simon the Ostrich puppet works very similar to Bernie Clifton's Oswald the Ostrich with the actors legs becoming the ostriches legs, having fake legs hang over the top and the head being controlled by rods.

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The pandas are arm puppets with Callum's left arm being inside moving the head, mouth, ears and eyes whilst his right arm cuddled the panda . This puppet also came with a fake left arm which clipped onto the pandas bottom giving the illusion of supporting it from underneath. 

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This was Callum's first time working with professional puppets and he loved it! He especially loved tricking plenty of park guests into believing the pandas were real!

In October 2023, Chessington opened a new immersive walkthrough attraction for the 2023 Halloween season. The attraction was called 'Enchanted Hollow' which involved guests venturing through the underground hollow knocking on all the residents doors Trick or Treating. 

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"As the actors inside, we all played animals (typically British woodland creatures such as moles, rats, squirrels, toads, hares and more). Some of us, myself included, had to wear prosthetic noses to add to the character. We also had to paint our faces daily. Being one of the moles, I was occasionally playing 'Mayor Mole' who was the first character guests would meet as they entered the Hollow"

Starlight's next musical was Legally Blonde. Callum was cast as two 'larger than life', funny, entertaining characters: Grandmaster Chad in 'What You Want' (left) and Carlos in 'Gay or European' (right). Each time Callum stood up and sang as Carlos, the audience erupted with massive laughter!

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There were 4 shows over 3 days, performed at the Hampton Hill Playhouse in February.

Callum returned to Chessington for their 2024 seasonal Easter event and was cast in the Enchanted Hollow attraction again. Rather than being a mole in a trick or treat attraction, he and his colleagues were all Easter bunnies "looking after the hollow whilst all the other animal residents are on their holidays". 

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Callum was also asked to be the actor for the introduction safety video which guests watched as they entered the first part of the hollow.  

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Everyone was meant to wear bunny nose prosthetics but due to difficulties keeping them on for long periods of time, they were removed. 

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Below, Baxter is pictured left and Bingo on the right

'Ward Candidate', directed by Roland Oliver was a short film Callum auditioned for through Backstage. The response from his audition came a month later. 

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Callum travelled to Ipswich to film for a day in June. The director sorted travel expenses and hotel accommodation so Callum could travel up the day before filming.

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His character, Clive was the assistant/ right-hand-man of John Gimmins. He had 2 lines.

Whilst applying for jobs, Callum came across a casting call from a company wanting actors to create UGC footage for their smart ring to be distributed and advertised online.

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The company (ONE Ring) sent Callum one of their smart rings (which retails around $300) which he then used to create a range of footage showing all functionalities of the ring including the workout tracker (gym exercise PICTURED), sleep tracker and being waterproof.

All footage was returned to 'ONE Ring' for them to edit and create their ad. 

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Callum was allowed to keep the ring and has been wearing it every day since.

 In August 2024, Callum was approached again by the casting director from 'Chaplins Pantos4kids' asking if he would like to return to tour with the company for a 3rd season; he agreed. ​

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Callum toured North Derbyshire from the 23rd November - 22nd December 2024, performing a total of 40 shows. Callum managed to get cast in the same group as a couple of the actors he had worked with the year before in Cinderella.

"Barmy Bosworth (the comedy lead) is Jack's best friend in the show and works for Jack's mum, Mrs Lumpkin. Barmy is a very silly and dozy character but was still a joy to play!"