Necklace beats nerves on journey to fame

Singer and actor Angela Steele will compete in the World Championship of Performing Arts. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Angela Steele admits nerves sometimes get to her before she's about to take to the stage.

But the 12-year-old singer/actor has a lucky charm she keeps close to her heart.

"It can be bad. Sometimes I get butterflies in my stomach which turn into bats but I have one of my aunt's necklaces which I always wear," she said.

"She passed away when I was young but she told me I could always be anything I wanted to be."

What the Year 8 Taupo Intermediate student wants to be is big - really big - in Hollywood.

Already an award-winning songwriter with no formal voice training, the precocious talent won every category she participated in, vocal champion and the overall best performer at last weekend's Aim to Fame competition held in Auckland.

And in July, Angela, who has sung in several Christmas in the Park events, starred in local TV show Top of the Class and auditioned last year for Disney film studios, will get her chance at the 13th annual World Championships of Performing Arts in Los Angeles.

Dubbed the Olympics for aspiring performers and entertainers, WCOPA sees contestants from more than 40 countries competing in six categories including dancing, singing, acting, modelling, instrumentals and variety.

Angela admits it will be a big ask to stand out.

"I have as good a chance as any ... I could get discovered if I work hard enough," she said.

"There will be major people there, probably the best agents you could get and they will be watching me and probably judging me."

It will cost about $10,000 - but she said her weekend busking jaunts in Taupo have earned her about $100 an hour.

She remains a "huge Grease fan" and would like to star in a stage version of the hit 1970s movie.

Her father, Wayne Steele, said his daughter had been performing since she was a baby, when she would grab spoons and sing into them.

"She turned the TV off one day and saw her reflection in it," he said.

"I think she liked what she saw."