Portadown girl Shelley Lowry watched as Will Smith smacked Chris Rock at the Oscars in Los Angeles but praised Belfast’s ‘charming’ Jude Hill

The Gilford boy, who was back at St John’s Primary School this week, started speech and drama classes with Shelley and was one of 300 boys who auditioned for the role of Buddy in Sir Kenneth Branagh’s semi-biographical movie.

Shelley was invited to the Academy Awards by the producers of ‘Belfast’ and went with Jude’s parents Shauneen and Darryl.

“When I was getting ready to go, I rang my dad, Richie, and he said, Shelley I just can’t believe this. Our wee family from Portadown and there is my wee girl at the Oscars. It was Mother’s Day on Sunday at the Oscars and my mummy Roisin was dead 20 years this year. She just would have loved it and all the chat up the town after.”

Hollywood was buzzing with Jude who was a real star on the red carpet and appeared on a host of top TV and radio chat shows across America.

Shelley, who runs a very successful talent agency based in Portadown, says: ”There is a great deal of interest in Jude from scouts in Hollywood but it is about making sure the next project is the right one for him.”

She has already set up an agent and management team for Jude in the US but is keeping secret his future projects.

Shelley said: “He is a wee natural, charming, really smart and he just loved every single minute of this experience. He has learned so much. Everyone he spoke to was charmed by him instantly. He just knew how to answer any question that was fired at him and he took it all in his stride. He was just so grateful to be there and he understood that this was a really special thing that was happening. He didn’t take anything for granted and enjoyed every moment.”