Ask an outsider what they think of Castlemilk and they'll probably say alcoholism, poverty and poor housing. The estate, on Glasgow's southern edge, has been ranked among Scotland's most deprived places.

But in recent years the area has gained a reputation for something altogether more glamorous: film stars.

Directors Ken Loach and Peter Mullan have cast residents in critically-acclaimed films including Sweet Sixteen, The Angels' Share and NEDS, and local talent regularly appears in television productions such as Rab C. Nesbitt, Taggart and soap opera River City.

Castlemilk stars like Stephen McCole, William Ruane and binman-turned-actor Gary Maitland have appeared in major productions and caught the attention of industry figures in Hollywood and Cannes.

And now another local performer is hoping to follow in their footsteps.

Martin Docherty's stage career began at the age of 10 when he was roped in to play the Artful Dodger in his sister's drama group's production of Oliver.

After years juggling acting roles with bar work and call centre jobs, he recently won his biggest to date with a small but credited role alongside Tom Hanks and Halle Berry in the forthcoming film Cloud Atlas – a mooted blockbuster shot partly in central Glasgow, to emulate San Francisco.

Friends had expected him to fly to LA to walk the red carpet at the film's premiere: Docherty told them he couldn't afford to go.

With these big productions the big A-list stars go to the premiere as a way to promote the film. Everyone else is welcome to attend, but you have to pay your own way. I know a lot of Scottish actors have been in the same boat, and I was just pleased to have gotten the part.



But while Martin was content with just that, two friends took things further. They started an online campaign to raise money to take him to Los Angeles for the film's premiere - Marty goes to Hollywood, with his campaign backed by Glasgow's lord provost, Sadie Docherty.

While their crowd-funding effort to make a documentary of the trip failed to get off the ground, anonymous donors paid for his five to seven-day long trip to California.

They're really secretive about the premiere, they won't announce the date or the location until a few days beforehand, but they've told us the week that we should be in town. We've also got some great meetings lined up with people like Gerard Butler and Kevin McKidd – Scottish actors who have really made things work out in the US.

Developed in the 1950s and 60s, Castlemilk was one of several new housing schemes intended to replace overcrowded slums such as Glasgow's notorious Gorbals. Its construction was immortalised by the documentary photographer Oscar Marzaroli in his image The Castlemilk Lads. But poor urban planning soon led to major social problems.

Oscar Marzaroli The Castlemilk Lads, 1963 Photograph: Anne Marzaroli/Scottish National Portrait Gallery

The schemes, intended as residential zones for a car-owning commuter population that never materialised, featured grim concrete housing blocks and high-rise flats, but few workplaces and no community facilities.

Regeneration programmes in the 1980s attempted to address some of these issues, but in 2006 the area was listed by the Scottish government as the country's third-poorest.

While the estate is much improved since the 1980s, Martin reckons Castlemilk's rough edges might partially explain the volume of talent emerging from the area.

I think maybe when you're from a less sheltered environment you find yourself in certain situations where you have to be quite confident. When I've been involved in drama in schools, sometimes in the posher areas you don't get a great response, but in less privileged ones they adore it.



Among Castlemilk's schools, St Margaret Mary Secondary has a particularly strong reputation for drama. Its pupils regularly appear on stage and in television productions.

Fifteen-year-old Liam Forrester is one of the drama department's most successful current pupils and has been cast in plays, films and television programmes. His career began with the children's channel CBBC, to a role in Peter Mullan's Neds and a show reprising hits from musicals at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow.

Liam has also studied music and dance. He said that at times his peers had been less than completely understanding:

I've taken some stick from my friends. They would be playing XBox or football and I'd be playing the piano or rehearsing, but that's died down since they started saying 'Oh, he's getting on stage, he's been on TV, he's getting paid.'

Liam's classmate Monique Petrie has been involved with drama since she joined a local group aged five. Now planning to study psychology and sociology, she said that the lessons learned in school had been valuable on and off-stage.

"You get pushed to do your best, be confident and shine as much as possible to get where you want to be in life", she said.

Their teacher, Louise Clelland, echoes that sentiment. But she said that while drama could play an important part in a school's curriculum, some people could be dismissive of the subject:

In the past it was seen as a namby-pamby subject, but we've fought hard to prove ourselves. In higher drama we study Greek tragedy, Shakespeare, Scottish contemporary theatre, they do essays, analysis, acting, directing. It's hardcore - one of the hardest Highers there is. When I first started teaching I was in the east end of Glasgow and only two schools had a drama department. Now that the authorities have caught on to how drama enhances the curriculum, people are finally saying 'I want drama in my school.'

Clelland said incorporating drama had a knock-on effect on other aspects of school life: her pupils are taught basic skills other might take for granted: listening, communication and speaking clearly, investigating drugs, smoking and bullying through drama. She added:

Sometimes it's the real characters who do well at drama – kids who perhaps don't do as well in other subjects, but because they don't care what people say about them they excel in drama.

St Margaret Mary's has recently joined with nearby Castlemilk High and Mamie's Weans, a highly regarded children's drama group, to work together on productions and organise theatre-going trips to London.

They hope that the experience will encourage the next generation of Scottish actors to make the jump from Castlemilk to California.