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Former Newmarket hairdresser lands starring role in big new movie




A former Newmarket hairdresser has won the starring role in a feature film which is due to be released world-wide in the next few weeks.

Kriss Dillon hopes the film, which has the working title London Appetite, will prove to be the breakthrough he has been looking for during years of one-off guest appearances in some well-known favourites on BBC, Channel 4 and Dave.

Now based in London with his partner, ballet dancer, Bianca, and their two-year-old son Koby, Kriss has also been interviewed by renowned director Ridley Scott for a possible role in his upcoming blockbuster Gladiator 2.

Kriss Dillon, left, on location with Georgia May Foote and director Robert Shannon
Kriss Dillon, left, on location with Georgia May Foote and director Robert Shannon

“This is a big deal for me,” said Kriss, 35, who co-stars in the romantic comedy with Coronation Street, and Strictly Come Dancing favourite, Georgia May Foote which will be streamed globally by Paramount + starting very soon in the USA and will also be available on Channel 5.

Kriss, who comes originally from Isleham and was educated at the village primary school and Soham Village College, first worked as a hairdresser at the John Michael salon in Rous Road in Newmarket before, at 20-years-old, he was spotted in Cambridge by a scout for a Norwich-based model agency.

“I did a lot of modelling jobs but I knew that I really wanted to act so I auditioned for a London agency and got in,” said Kriss.

He had roles in two films, In Love with Alma Cogan and Chicklit, both starring John Hurt and directed by his wife Anwen Rees-Myers.

In the latter, he appeared alongside Gwyneth Strong, who played Cassandra in Only Fools and Horses, a favourite of his late father, Chris, who was a big fan of classic films and comedies and had been drummer in the 1960s group The Equals who reached number one in 1968 with Baby Come Back.

“I did commercials just to pay the bills but then I got parts in episodes of Red Dwarf, Casualty, Doctors, Cuckoo and Hullraisers.

“Then in March, just a couple of days after my dad died, I got my first-ever lead. It was the worst week in my life, but also the week when I got what I had been striving for,” said Kriss, who often heads to Prickwillow to visit his mother Sidika, brother Justin and family.

“I am proud of where I come from and I want to share my story with people who knew me,” he said.