IT'S a far cry from Hollywood, but for Redland Bay's Abigail Martin being nominated for an Australian Screen Industry Network Award for Best Actress in her first feature-length movie is a dream come true.
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The 25-year-old mother of two, originally from New Zealand, has been nominated for the award for her role in the sci-fi thriller Beyond Redemption: Space Captain.
Martin said she did not expect to soar to international stardom overnight but was looking forward to the awards night in December and the first screening in Brisbane next year.
She has been in four short films before, but starring in Beyond Redemption: Space Captain is her first lead role in a feature-length movie.
In Redemption, filmed in the Brisbane studios of producer Paul Day, Martin plays an alluring cyborg.
She enchants the crew of the spaceship Redemption, which has been sent to the outer universe to investigate a transport ship's mysterious explosion.
"The role gives me great scope to showcase my acting skills and it was fantastic to be cast in a lead," Martin said.
"At the start my character is robotic but then she becomes more human and relaxed and confident and so did I as I grew into the role.
"I love independent movies but I also hope this film will take my career further and it has given me lots of skills to audition for big Hollywood-style films and bigger budgets.
"I was lucky to be chosen because there were 250 people who auditioned."
The film has also been nominated for seven other Australian Screen Industry Network Awards, for best actor, producer, director, composer, screenplay, cinematography and feature film.
There are 40 actors in the independent movie, which is the third in Day's Redemption series.
Paul Day's first film, Redemption 101, which was first screened at Brisbane's Schonell Cinema at St Lucia in 2006, was followed by his second film in the series, 2011's Beyond Redemption (The Visitor).
Even before the film premieres, Martin has set her sights on international fame and fortune and is off to New Zealand in January to star in Battle of the Bronzed, a feature film about trans-Tasman competition. It is based on a reality television show.
In November, Martin and husband Phil Carse, who is the Sharks Football Club's development manager, will star in fashionista Niki Peljega's Brisbane Designer Fashion Show at the Old Museum.
