This guy seems to have been lost among all the praise (quite deservedly) heaped on Jamie Bell for his excellent performance in the superb movie "Billy Elliot". Playing Billy's best friend Michael, Stuart's performance as a loner struggling to come to terms with being gay and his love for Billy was finely honed and beautifully understated. It would have been all too easy for Stuart to have played the role as very over the top camp, but this guy is a far better actor than that. He brought a dignity and compassion to Michael who has possibly an even bigger struggle to be accepted for who he was than had Billy Elliot. To be a ballet dancer in working class Northern England was barely acceptable in the 1970's, to be gay was definitely not. Make no mistake this was a great performance from a very talented youngster in the most demanding of roles. Let's see more of this fine actor please.

IMAGES FROM "BILLY ELLIOT"