Some Kind of Debut

Thirteen-year-old Jodhi May had completed precisely two hours of acting lessons when she was cast in “A World Apart.” The British actress had never appeared in front of a professional’s camera. The closest she had come to stage experience was the time her mother’s Parisian friends rented a theater for a birthday party and recruited her to sing in “Bugsy Malone.”

So when May shared the coveted best actress award with her two “World Apart” co-stars--Barbara Hershey and Linda Mvusi--at the Cannes Film Festival in May, she was not the only one surprised.

A few of her schoolmates, in fact, had trouble coping with her sudden success. “Some people were quite jealous,” she says. “It’s a real shame, but I just ignored it.”

She was already intrigued about South Africa, she says, when she auditioned for the role in “A World Apart,” a Chris Menges-directed drama about apartheid that opened here Friday.

May’s French mother is an art teacher. Her German father runs a construction company. She attends state school in London. But the real influence on her nascent acting career appears to be her mother’s circle of friends in Paris’ fashion and artistic world, who amuse themselves by staging informal skits and plays--often casting May in their scenes.

The acting school she attended briefly near her home in London immediately threw her into auditions, one of which led to the “World Apart” role. May says she plans to continue attending the school, but with some reservations.

“The improvisations were very confrontational . . . it would all be nagging and moaning,” she says. “In the end it leaves you being a very moody actor.”

In addition to acting, she is working on her drawing. “I love art--Cezanne, Matisse, Gaugin, Da Vinci,” says May. “And I have a passion for history.”

May says she is considering other film and stage roles--but will only accept them if she doesn’t have to miss any more school. “I really, really enjoy acting,” she says. “But I want to finish my education first. I want to go to a university.”