Josh Ely, 25, returns to Bury St Edmunds to launch Here For The Drama Academy in St John’s Street

A Bury St Edmunds actor has joined forces with a former EastEnders star to launch a new drama school in his hometown.

Josh Ely, 25, is returning to his roots in Bury with the launch of Here For The Drama (HFTD) Academy which he co-founded with actress Milly Zero, who is known for her role as Dotty Cotton in BBC’s EastEnders.

The new venture will be the company’s eighth location after it was established in London and Essex in 2022 and will offer young people, aged three to 18, a chance to pursue their passion for acting.

As Josh grew up in Bury — studying at West Suffolk College’s Conservatoire EAST before moving to London to train at East 15 Acting School where he met Milly and later training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) — he said he is looking forward to ‘coming back home’.

“I owe so much to this town for nurturing my love for acting,” he said. “I’m passionate about providing that same opportunity to today’s young talent.

“I only really got started with my acting career once I went to West Suffolk College and since graduating from LAMDA and I’ve just been doing some bits of acting and setting up the academy.

“Milly reached out to me about setting all this up, as it was always her passion to set up a school for young actors.

“It’s been going really well so far and we’re finding our niche as we’re focusing more on acting for the screen and short films, which I know all our students find really exciting.”

HFTD has had many success stories since its launch including youngster Baylie who has starred in a Sony advert, has been signed to child agency Bonnie and Betty, and even performed alongside Jodie Whittaker in The Dutchess (of Malfi) play in The West End — all before the age of six.

Another success was for Dolly who was signed to the same agency and landed a role in the new ‘Wicked’ film starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.

Josh, who went to school at St James Middle and King Edward VI Schools, said: “It’s so amazing to watch our students thrive and for them to be achieving such incredible things — some have secured roles on CBBC, Netflix, and Apple TV and sometimes I’ll just be watching TV and one of our kids will pop up in an advert or something.

“This is definitely something we’re exciting to be bringing to Bury as I think we’re quite unique in our approach with how we handle the curriculum that includes audition techniques, self-taping, screen acting, stage combat and classical texts.”

The academy’s classes are divided by age groups with Minis aged three to six, Juniors aged seven to 11 and Pros aged 12 to 18.

There is also the LAMDA class for ages seven to 18, which focuses on guiding performers with exams, auditions as well as public speaking.

The new academy is set to launch at The Centre in St John’s Street, Bury, on Sunday, January 12, and you can sign up your child for a free trial on the website.

Josh added: “Every summer term our students get to star in their own short films which we film with a professional camera crew.

“Then we play these back on the big screen which friends and family are invited to.

“We call this our HFTD Oscars because we go all out with Oscar’s statues, red carpet, photographers etc — it’s great fun.”