Was your grandmother or great-grandmother an aspiring movie star?

The National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) is appealing for public help in identifying photographs of hundreds of would-be actors hoping for a break in the 1930s.

The portraits, mainly of young women, were submitted in response to a talent callout by Stuart Doyle and Ken G Hall, the founders of Australian film company Cinesound.

Curators believe they offer a rich and rare insight into women otherwise invisible in history.

They are hoping families can provide information about what happened to them, whether they pursued an acting career or not, to flesh out the scanty details contained in scrapbooks compiled at the time.

"They're a really rich history of both photography and of the aspirations and ambitions of people at a particular point in time," NFSA curator Jennifer Coombes said.

"They [also] tell us how good Ken G Hall was as an entrepreneur and a showman selling an Australian dream.

"He wanted Australian talent and he wanted to train Australian talent into that Hollywood model."

Amateur actress Leonora Lupp was described as clever and better looking than in the photo. ( Supplied: National Film and Sound Archive )

Around 1,500 young hopefuls, mainly women, responded to the Cinesound call.

Many supplied glamourous studio portraits; others were photographed in swimsuits, on horseback or in costume on stage.

The portraits were kept in three large scrapbooks alongside information such as age, height, hair colour, experience and special skills.

They have since been digitised for the Starstruck: Australian Movie Portraits exhibition, a collaboration between the NFSA and the National Portrait Gallery (NPG).

"It's an incredible social history archive," NPG curator Penny Grist said.

"They were modern women, they could drive, many of them were extremely accomplished in languages and ... singing.

"A number of them ended up in the ABC."

Diana Du Cane's Cinesound headshot and a publicity shot from The Broken Melody is among the collection. ( Supplied: National Film and Sound Archive )

One of the actresses featured in the scrapbooks was Diana Du Cane, Cinesound's leading lady in 1938 and the star of the film The Broken Melody.

Her granddaughter Rachael contacted the NFSA after finding her photo online.

"It wasn't a secret as such, they knew she was a theatre and a film star," Ms Coombes said.

"But it was a lovely opportunity to learn more about Diana."