A YOUNG actress from Barrow has travelled to Hollywood to chase her dreams and has now been selected to star as a fitness pin-up on major television stations.

The parents of 20-year-old Louise Danson described her as "an ordinary girl from Barrow with a lot of ambition".

The actress and dancer moved to Los Angeles from her home in Harrel Lane, Barrow, when she was just 17 to study acting, dance and musical theatre at the prestigious AMDA College and Conservatory of the Performing Arts in Hollywood.

Since graduating, Louise has been carving out a career for herself in what is possibly the most competitive industry in the world.

The performer has now been cast as a lead fitness model and trainer for an upcoming TV show called Rope 2 Rip. This show will demonstrate the benefits of skipping to stay fit and healthy.

Skipping has long been favoured among boxers as a tough form of cardio and is great for coordination too.

Louise said: "I am so excited for the show, it was a long and difficult application process. There were 640 girls who applied for the role. From the 640 girls, the producers picked 85 who they thought fitted the bill and auditioned us all.

"Then 19 of us successfully got through the audition to the fitness test where they tested our endurance and skill. After the fitness test a handful of us got final interviews to show our personalities, and then awaited the call to see if we were one of the six to land the role."

Rope 2 Rip aims to help people get into shape and consists of six female leads who take on the role of both model and trainer. They have now been confirmed as Louise Danson, Kaycee Duale, Milena Read, Lorena Rodriguez, Heather Glovack and Kristen Arriaga.

Louise said: "All of the girls are lovely and very supportive. They have all been in the fitness industry for longer than I have, doing bikini competitions, work out videos and modelling. They have given me so much help and advice for my future career in the fitness industry.

"Four of the girls are from the United States and one is from Puerto Rico, I'm the only English girl but we all live in Los Angeles now."

The show is produced by Patrice Wilson and Richard Brown who hope it will be picked up by TV giants Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu and Vudu.

TV stations such as ABC and FreeForm have also shown a huge interest in the TV show and have expressed an interest in making a reality TV show with the lead girls.

If Louise could land a role as a reality TV star on a channel such as ABC, then her career would surely go from strength to strength.

Reality TV and fitness are now seen as two of the biggest money spinners in the commercial world. Fitness bloggers and Instagrammers are the world's newest A-listers, led by girls like Kayla Itsines, Mary Helen Bowers and Sjana Earp.

These stars now have a great responsibility to act as role models for young girls who spend a lot of time on social media, taking inspiration from these girls.

Louise is part of the new wave of "strong not skinny" motivators, who hope to encourage a healthier body image and promote a more realistic image of beauty.

Louise said: "Promoting a healthy body image is extremely important. Young girls with a positive image of themselves feel more comfortable and confident in their ability to succeed. They don't obsess about calories, food or weight. And they have the energy they need to enjoy physical activity. Young girls with a negative body image feel more self-conscious, anxious and isolated, putting them at a greater risk for excessive weight gain and for eating disorders.

"Due to a huge impact from social media, lots of young girls believe that ‘skinny’ is healthy. And we can all achieve this so-called look if we try, which is not true.

"We all have different bodies, some people naturally have a petite frame and some of us do not. I have embraced the fact that I am naturally a bigger girl, and I love it. I am 5ft 9in and I have a curvy frame but I’m healthy and fit."

Filming of Rope 2 Rip will start in the next few weeks and is due to air shortly after.

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