AMY Rhiannon Worth is well-known to audiences across the region, particularly to Lancaster theatregoers, where at The Dukes she launched her professional acting career.

After taking a drama degree at Aberystwyth University, The Dukes' 1998 hit Beauty and the Beast gave the former Queen Elizabeth School (Kirkby Lonsdale) student the platform to propel herself onto the national stage.

"It was at school where I grew to love and perform in my first ever musicals," explains Amy.

Almost two decades on and the talented Burton-In-Kendal performer has established herself across a whole spectrum of genres. She's been in the spotlight many times as a vocalist: as soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra, in musical theatre for BBC Radio 4 and narrating Peter and the Wolf with the eminent Halle orchestra, right through to fronting bands in jazz, rock and pop, most notably Heroes of She, a band that provided Amy with scores of great memories.

"We had an amazing time," remembers Amy. "Performing with the band and experiencing a bit of rock and roll and the thrill of performing your own music to the fan base that we built-up was a treat.

"I also had another quite amazing experience singing in concert with the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Anthony Inglis. I was performing on board the Queen Mary 2 as one of the principal singers. I was chosen to sing at a concert commemorating the anniversary of 9/11 to a theatre filled with thousands of American audience members. I remember singing the national anthem and as the song began the whole audience stood up - the people in front of me held their fists on their hearts and had tears in their eyes; it was my privilege to sing to those people on that very special day."

Amy also recalls the privilege of narrating Peter and the Wolf: "I remember the first time I looked at the score with all the millions of instruments on the page and thinking, wow, how will I ever get through this? But eventually I learnt to follow the score and to work with the conductor and it was quite a unique experience to be involved with so many top notch classical musicians - an experience I will never forget and, of course, Prokofiev's music is exquisite."

As well as television appearances that included parts in Emmerdale and Heartbeat, Amy has landed some of her favourite leading roles - Roxanne in Cyrano de Bergerac, May in The Accrington Pals (The Dukes), Masha in The Seagull (National Tour for Compass Theatre Company) and Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz at The Lowry, at Salford Quays.

She's also performed in five different Dukes Williamson Park open air productions down the years, which she says, were some of her favourite professional jobs.

At the moment Amy is having a ball on the inaugural UK tour of Billy Elliot the Musical, which is running at Manchester Palace Theatre, until January 28.

Set in a northern mining town, against the background of the 1984/85 miners’ strike, the multi award-winning musical has now been seen by nearly 11 million people across five continents and is the recipient of more than 80 awards internationally, including ten Tony and five Olivier awards.

During the run, she plays the female lead, the colourful character of Mrs Wilkinson, on three dates: December 26 and January 9 are still to come: "I’m the first understudy for this wonderful role so as well as my normal performance in smaller character roles, once a month I get to take centre stage as Billy’s dance teacher, the part Julie Walters played in the film version.

"Billy is going fantastically well. We've had such wonderful audiences and such wonderful responses with standing ovations in every venue and fantastic reviews and just lovely responses from the general public who have often said how they've been laughing one minute and crying the next. Lots of grown men have been reduced to tears but the jokes also come thick and fast and it's a wonderfully entertaining show. The lovely thing with Billy Elliot is that you get all the entertaining things you would expect in a musical - spectacular dance routines and songs and outstanding individual performances, especially from the young lads who play Billy. But then that's everything you would expect of a straight play with a wonderful script by Lee Hall set against the political backdrop of the miners strike. So there is an awful lot going on and you can watch on so many different levels."

So what's next after Billy: "Hopefully I will continue to work on more big scale productions - be them plays or musicals theatre. I've had the great privilege to have a really varied career to date so in lots of ways if it just carries on as it has been that will be a dream come true."

Tickets for Billy Elliot the Musical are available on 0844-871-3019.