The boy is sitting in a big leather office chair spinning it around and around in a series of dizzying turns.

Like any child his age, a swivel chair is an irresistible invitation to fun – so he spins and twirls until his mom tells him to stop.

Watching him in the chair, it’s easy to forget this is the same 10-year-old who only a few weeks ago was having a phone conversation with Tom Cruise, acting in a lead role with Nicole Kidman and sharing the same rarified air with screen legend Lauren Bacall.

"We’ve worked hard for him to remain a kid," says Jacqui Kaese, drama coach for emerging film star Cameron Bright.

"His Nanaimo home, his friends, his school and his grounding in the film business is all important. He hasn’t become Hollywoodized."

Cameron’s rise to celebrity is about to accelerate.

He just returned from a three-month shoot in New York where he starred alongside Kidman in Birth, a film already being talked about as a potential Oscar nominee. In Birth, Cameron plays the reincarnated husband of Kidman’s character – essentially a 30-year-old man in a 10-year-old’s body. The role was challenging and required long hours on the set shooting and re-shooting scenes.

"He was awesome," says Cameron’s mum, Anne.

"He had tears in people’s eyes where he and Nicole share a very tender moment."

Anne and Kaese spent the entire time with Cameron in New York – Kaese serving as his personal acting coach.

"Everything the character felt was as a man played through the body of a boy," says Kaese. "It was tough. There were some things Cameron and I really struggled with, and there would be days when we would work up to 10 hours. But Cameron was exceptional. Even when Anne and I were tired he’d keep going."

Cameron made the most of his free time, spending much of it sightseeing in New York.

He went to the Empire State Building, the Bronx Zoo and chummed with Kidman’s eight-year-old son Connor who received a phone call from his father, Tom Cruise, while the boys were on an outing.

"All of a sudden I heard Connor say ‘Cameron, my dad wants to talk to you.’ Tom Cruise wanted to thank me for having Connor for a sleepover."

The call was one many highlights of Cameron’s time spent in New York and undoubtedly one of many to come now that the Nanaimo youngster’s career is taking off.

Birth wasn’t his first brush with fame. Last fall, Cameron shot Godsend with Robert De Niro. The film is due for release this fall.

Cameron is also on the shortlist for a movie with comedic actor Jim Carrey. But he won’t know until October if he gets the role.

In the meantime, his acting coach says there’s no hurry for the young actor to rush back to work.

"Having worked with De Niro and Kidman, whom do you work with next? It can only be Jack Nicholson, Jim Carrey," says Kaese.

"So we’re hoping we can lie low, enjoy the summer and wait for the next big offer."

Spotlight Academy acknowledges and thanks the many talented individuals who have contributed to the development of Cameron Bright's career. Cameron is currently represented by Pacific Artists, Vancouver.