Why We're Loving Internationally Acclaimed South African Opera, Rock, Pop Singer And Actress, Camilla Crawford

An internationally acclaimed rising star has taken the form of South African Opera, Rock, Pop and Contemporary musical theater singer and actress Camilla Crawford, a young girl who, once finishing her studies at King David Highschool at the tender age of 18, bought a one way ticket to New York City where she studied musical theater and acting at the New York Film Academy after receiving a maximum talent scholarship at the Applause Rising Talent Showcase (a convention dedicated to giving artists the opportunity to perform in front of both American and international agents, managers and casting directors). Camilla is now building her performance career in the United States through various accredited films, entertainment companies, showcases, music videos, commercials, and more. Camilla began discovering her extraordinary talent at a very young age, where she spent nearly all of her hours outside of her high school classrooms perfecting her Operatic, acting and basic dance technique. At the age of 16, Camilla began her classical vocal training at the June Kraus Academy, a prestigious singing academy dedicated to perfecting both classical and non-classical singers under internationally renowned Opera singer June Kraus. At the academy, Camilla was vocally trained and prepared to perform monthly at the Old Mutual Theater on the Square in Sandton City, as well as to compete in renowned national competitions such as the South African Championships and The National Eistedfodd. After doing various dancing, singing and theatrical shows at a variety of theaters around Johannesburg, receiving several diplomas and coming 4th overall in the classical-crossover section of the National Eistedfodd, Camilla was accepted into Just You Artist and Model Management, an agency dedicated not only to sending artists out for local and international castings in South Africa, but also to expanding their artists horizons by giving them the opportunity to take their talents abroad. With the guidance of her agent, Elsubie De Lange, Camilla found herself at the ARTS convention in New York City, where she was given the opportunity to perform in front of hundreds of agents, managers and casting directors. This was only the beginning of Camilla’s booming career. Once Camilla had auditioned for the New York Film Academy and blown her admissions officer Roger Del Pozo away, he immediately offered her a maximum talent scholarship to develop her acting and musical skills at the college campus in New York. Here she received training from various Broadway stars, and soon found herself developing her voice above and beyond her classical limitations. After making various student films and doing final college showcases where she was given the opportunity to show off her new found pop/rock and contemporary musical theater voice, Camilla graduated from her 2 year musical theater programme and went on to focus on acting. She continued her studies at the New York Film Academy by also completing a one year Acting for Film programme. Now graduated, Camilla has completed various performance projects. After working as a lead actress in the acclaimed short film ‘Opening Doors’, American director Rob W. Schneider stated that Camilla was ‘inspiring and challenging’ and that ‘countless professionals, from New York, Los Angeles and Chicago have sung the praises of Camilla’s work. To this day, I am still stopped in the street to hear the virtues extoled. My only quarrel with these encounters is that the other person is so effusive with praise I am rarely able to get in my own thoughts about Camilla’s many talents.’ She also starred in the thriller short film ’112’, which became so well acclaimed director Allen Redwing was given the title of ‘100 top directors to look out for’ on variety.com. She recently finished filming a music video at BMCC Television studios, and has a preliminary interview with a Billboard Top 100 producing music entertainment company. These are her projects above and beyond her recent test commercial shoot for popular American clothing chainstore ‘Century 21’, as well as her various singing and performing showcases. Camilla is beyond grateful that she has had such a whirlwind of opportunities, and is incredibly grateful to her hard-working mother, her teachers June Kraus and Jenny Rahme and South African agent Elsubie De Lange. Camilla is a prime example of Just You’s slogan ‘international is not impossible’, and is excited to grow even further in her international career.

Jamiya Wilson