I was on Fame Academy’s first-ever series – I switched music for film writing and won a BAFTA

A FORMER Fame Academy star won a BAFTA after swapping music for film writing.

Ainslie Henderson was on the very first series of Fame Academy – alongside pop star Lemar – and made it all the way to week nine before being eliminated.

After leaving the show Ainslie released top five single Keep Me a Secret and later released his debut album independently.

But Ainslie later decided to swap his music career for one in film – and the move paid off.

He won a BAFTA in 2013 for co-writing and animating film The Making of Longbird and was presented his award by Rafe Spall and the late Helen McCrory.

Then in 2014 he was nominated for another BAFTA, this time for his directorial work on I Am Tom Moody.

Fame Academy judge Carrie Grant recently opened up about how she and husband David, who was also on the show, struggled for money before getting their big break on the show.

She told This is Money: “David or I would get work singing backing vocals in the West End and we’d be searching for change down the back of the sofa for Tube tickets so we could do that session and earn £125.

“Friends brought us groceries because we were living on pasta. Those were very stressful days.”