A Suffolk actress is following in the footsteps of a whole host of Hollywood greats after landing a staring role on Broadway.

Charlotte Parry, from Ilketshall St Andrew, near Bungay, is currently treading the boards as Miss Cecily Cardew in Oscar Wilde's comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest.

The play is showing at New York's American Airlines Theatre and has been produced by The Roundabout Theatre Company.

Miss Parry, who is in her late 20s, moved to the Big Apple five years ago after studying drama in London and at the University of East Anglia.

She moved to Suffolk with her parents when she was in her teens but before that would visit the county regularly to see her grandparents, who live in Southwold.

She landed her current role following a number of auditions and could not be more pleased.

'The play is obviously very well known and it's an exciting challenge,' she said yesterday. 'It's going very well at the moment and has had some great reviews and the audience seem to be loving it. Everyone is having a great time and it's lots of fun to do.'

The Importance of Being Earnest is Miss Parry's third Broadway production having previously appeared in The Real Thing, which transferred from London in 2000, and Coram Boy around three years ago.

'We opened in January and the run has now been extended to July so it's very encouraging,' she continued. 'I've actually played the role before, around five years ago. It's very interesting playing it again because you find new things with the same role.

'It is keeping me very busy. We have eight shows a week. It can be pretty tiring. I have to warm up for quite a while beforehand because it's such a demanding text.'

Miss Parry said she was also grateful to the team at regional touring theatre company, Eastern Angles.

She performed an adaptation of Russian author Anton Chekov's Three Sisters with them, called Another Three Sisters, around six years ago. 'I think of them very fondly,' she said.