A BARNSTAPLE-born actor has been nominated for an industry award for his fighting performance in an independent boxing film.

Stuart Brennan, 28, from Burridge, has been nominated for the Best Actor award at this year's Welsh BAFTAs for his starring role in Risen.

The film, which he also co-wrote, documents the life story of Welsh boxing icon Howard Winstone, who became world featherweight champion in the 60s, despite losing three of his fingers when he was 16.

Stuart previously said the film was tipped for industry awards but was still honoured to receive his first nomination.

He said: "Everyone worked so hard on this movie, so it's a huge honour for us to receive recognition by BAFTA.

"Obviously it is incredible to receive this nomination personally as well.

"The role took a lot of dedication and commitment and without the support of the cast, crew, and my family, this project would never have happened."

Stuart, who attended Pilton Community College and North Devon College, got into acting through his parts in the Gang Shows at the Queen's Theatre and later studied drama at university in Winchester.

He later jointly founded UK-based Burn Hand Film Productions, before moving to China last year to become a partner in another film studio.

He is now filming The Reverend, in which he plays the lead role.

Risen, which took almost five years to finish, has already won Best Film at the New Jersey Film Festival, Bootleg Film Festival London and Newport Film Festival.

And at the film premiere last year, Stuart was overwhelmed when he was awarded the World Boxing Council (WBC) World Champion's Belt, which has been worn by the likes of Lennox Lewis.

Stuart said: "It is the end of a chapter of my life. It has taken us such a long period of time to do this. But we always said we wouldn't rush it. We wanted the product to be something we were really proud of.

"The story of Howard Winstone is compelling. It's like a real, British Rocky."

Maniac Films in Croyde, which has worked with Stuart on other films, also did the visual effects and most of the production for the film.

The BAFTA Cymru Awards will be held in Cardiff onSunday, May 29.

The film will also be released in some venues on Friday, May 13 before being released on DVD on Monday, May 30.