North Hampshire schoolboy debuts in Tom Hanks movie
Albie Salter - who attends Lord Wandsworth College in Long Sutton near Odiham - worked with Hollywood stars Tom Hanks and Robin Wright in the film 'Here'
Last updated 21st Jan 2025
A 12-year-old schoolboy has made his big screen debut alongside Tom Hanks in the movie 'Here'.
Albie Salter, who lives in Maidenhead and attends Lord Wandsworth college near Odiham in north Hampshire plays the role of ‘Young Jimmy’ in the movie, directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and Paul Bettany.
Here is based on the 2014 graphic novel by Richard McGuire and tells the story of a single house and the people who have lived there over the course of generations.
The film was shot at Pinewood Studios and was released in the US at the beginning of November last year.
“It’s so incredible to see yourself on the big screen,” Albie admitted. “It’s almost unreal because you watch movies all the time and don’t imagine being in something like that.”
Whilst Here is the first time that Albie has appeared in a feature film, he is no stranger to acting. He played the lead role of ‘Patch’ in 101 Dalmations – A New Musical at Regents Park Open Air Theatre in 2022, having made his professional stage debut there the year before in Carousel. “I also play the guitar and sing,” Albie revealed. “I’m working on a third album and I’m looking to do a headline show this year.”
One of Albie’s highlights whilst filming Here included working with one of Hollywood’s best-loved actors. “Tom Hanks was just brilliant on set,” he revealed. “He improvised in nearly every scene and it was just mesmerising to watch. On the last day of filming, he said to me, ‘This won’t be the last thing we do together.’ He then said, ‘I’ll see you in the next one.’ They were all so nice.”
Digital de-ageing was used in the film, which sees Albie playing the brother of Richard Young (Tom Hanks) and the young son of ‘Al Young’ (Paul Bettany). He admits that one of his biggest scenes was alongside the female lead though.
“It’s just me and Robin (Wright). Her waters break and she tells me her baby’s coming. She tells me to call a taxi, then I run out, get some towels and start trying to make a phone call on one of those old-fashioned (rotary dial) telephones. I didn’t know how to use it. Everyone was laughing at me on-set and Tom showed me what to do….It was a very fun scene to film.”