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Search forGymnastic stunts land Alison role as Lara Croft
Saturday, August 16, 2008, 07:00
Former Edenham High pupil Alison Carroll trained with the Shirley Gymnastics Club from the age of 12.
At her audition she used the athletic moves she has learnt over the years to leave the casting panel in no doubt she was ideal for the role.
"The room was tiny and I had to show off my stunts," she told the Advertiser. "But not before I jumped up to touch the ceiling to make sure I wasn't going to hit it."
The 23-year-old will now have the task of fulfilling one of the tallest orders in showbiz – promoting the Tomb Raider game, of which Lara Croft is the star, all over the world.
She says her sudden rise to fame has been a "daunting" experience after a week in which she has made national headlines.
"I've played the game, but I'm better at being the real thing," she said.
"My brother has all the console games and he is loving it – he's so proud his sister has become the iconic gaming hero that is Lara."
The role demands she keeps up with a gruelling training schedule.
But having done gymnastics since she was seven she is taking it in her stride.
"I train six days a week – going to the gym, going running and gymnastics training," she said.
"On top of all that I am going to be taking on SAS training and a firearms course in Eastern Europe.
"In order to capture all of Lara's elements and bring her to life I have to do all the training that her character does."
At the audition, Alison beat hundreds of other girls.
"They were all dressed in their own versions of Lara's outfit," she recalled.
After landing the part, Alison couldn't tell any of her friends.
As recently as last month she was still donating some of her time to coaching at Shirley Gymnastics Club.
She said: "Nobody knew. So I got all these random phone calls and text messages coming in.
"They had all opened the paper and seen me and they asked me if it was just a coincidence or whether I really was Lara Croft.
"But I love the whole rehearsal process and I'm enjoying all the photo shoots.
"Everyone wants to meet her and all women want to be her."
Alison, whose ambition when at school was to be a PE teacher, will soon travel to places including South Africa, Germany, Dubai and Singapore under her new identity.
She has abandoned her job as a receptionist at a London leisure firm and will now appear in character at promotional events and on television advertisements around the globe. She will be promoting the game Tomb Raider: Underworld, which is released on November 21.
Because of her gymnastic ability wherever she appears she will be required to do a mixture of back flips and somersaults – just like her character does in the computer game.
Alison is following in the footsteps of Nell McAndrew, who modelled as Lara Croft, and Angelina Jolie, who took the role in the Tomb Raider film.
Alison has represented Great Britain as a professional display gymnast and has performed in front of Prince Charles at the Royal Albert Hall.
As for the prospect of being recognised in the street, she said: "I haven't been yet, but I'm probably just oblivious to it."
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