Hollywood debut for Essex schoolgirl Delilah

Delilah O'Riordan has featured in her first Hollywood film alongside Tom Hanks

A 13-year-old girl says she feels "lucky" to have featured in her first Hollywood film – starring alongside Tom Hanks.

Delilah O'Riordan, a performing arts and academic scholar at a school in Essex, is in Here alongside the two-time Oscar-winning actor.

The film is directed by Robert Zemeckis, whose previous work includes Back To The Future, Forrest Gump and Cast Away.

Delilah features as the Violin Girl in the film, and plays the daughter of Downton Abbey star Michelle Dockery and Midsomer Murders actor Gwilym Lee.

The movie, which is based on a graphic novel by Richard McGuire, was released on Friday.

It is about multiple generations of families who inhabit the same home over the course of a century.

Although it is Delilah's first Hollywood debut, she started acting a decade ago.

Speaking to BBC Essex, she said: "I think I was three when I did my first panto, and I loved it. From then on, I did a few other jobs.

"I did Les Miserables when I was eight, and then after that I got an agent and I did some other jobs, and now it's come to this."

Delilah made her Netflix debut in the 2022 comedy-drama Christmas on Mistletoe Farm.

She has also been in an episode of Call the Midwife, been in a West End production of Les Miserables, and starred as Lily Potter Jnr in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Palace Theatre.

"I feel extremely lucky to have been part of this production and met so many wonderful people, from my drivers to all the people on set," Delilah said.

"I will always treasure the memories of this experience."