But 12-year-old Noah Lamrock not only met Jack Thompson on Sunday he will share the small screen with the veteran star later this year in Devil’s Playground, a mini-series on Foxtel.

Noah and his family spent a week in Sydney last July while Noah worked as an extra with a small speaking part on the TV series after a talent scout spotted the Orange High School student at the Sydney Royal Easter Show.

Although he didn’t get the opportunity to meet Thompson during filming, Noah went along to watch him perform Australian poems at the Orange Civic Theatre yesterday as part of the Banjo Paterson Festival, with the hope of scoring an autograph and photo.

Thompson’s advice to Noah was simple.

He also demonstrated the meaning of the common theatre expression “break a leg”.

“It means take a bow,” Thompson told the young performer.

“If you want to be an actor it’s a tough life, but just keep doing it.”

Initially Noah was only an extra, until the series’ director Rachel Ward offered him a speaking part.

It meant a change of plan for the family, who extended their stay in Sydney from overnight to a week.

“It was pretty cool,” Noah said.

“One line I had to say to the teacher was ‘your the best brother’.”

The experience filming the mini-series gave Noah his first taste of showbiz and working a 40-hour week.

It was also a learning curve for his parents.

“They rang us on Friday and we had to be there on Monday,” his mother Kathy said.

“We had no idea what to expect.”

So far Noah has done a NIDA course and Acting Up classes in Orange and hopes to study drama at school next year.