SHE was plucked from thousands of hopefuls for a part in the new Star Wars film but young American actress Crystal Clarke says her heart belongs to Glasgow.

After growing up in New Jersey, she travelled to Scotland to study at the Royal Conservatoire in the city and says she spent the best three years of her life here.

While most drama students are scrambling about for small parts after they graduate, 21-year-old Crystal already has the filming of Star Wars: The Force Awakens under her belt and is now touring the UK in an all-female production of The Gamblers.

She is sworn to secrecy about her part in the JJ Abrams-directed blockbuster, set 30 years after The Return of the Jedi, which also stars Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill.

Plucked from obscurity, she was one of 7000 who turned up at Glasgow Science Centre for the film's open casting.

"I went with some other people from my course," she says. "I thought, 'Why not?' I'd have felt like an idiot not to go, it would be ridiculous. So I did and it turned out it was a good thing that I did."

More than 60,000 tried out at open auditions across the country.

"I don't know what they were looking for," adds Crystal. "They would look at you and you would go through or be sent away. Then there was a little chat to get to know you. If you got through that you would go and read.

"The funny thing was I actually auditioned way before that because they contacted my drama school looking for people and I did something for them then, which was not my best. So I thought I might as well try again."

She cannot reveal the details of her part or who she filmed with at Pinewood Studios.

"I don't know if I can even say when the filming was done, to be honest," she laughs.

She admits she wasn't a Star Wars fan when she was younger, growing up in an immigrant family in north New Jersey.

"My family are West Indian - I'm first generation American - so it really wasn't part of our culture, I didn't know a thing about it," she says. "I saw a Star Wars film in my first year at the Royal Conservatoire and along with two other friends we ended up watching all of the Star Wars films.

"I'm still not a gigantic fan but it is some of the only sci-fi that I've actually enjoyed recently - as well as Doctor Who."

Back in this galaxy, Crystal is busy treading the boards in the role of Krugel in a new adaptation of Gogol's The Gamblers.

The all-female cast aims to offer a different perspective on the 19th century card sharps and confidence tricksters.

"The roles haven't really changed through us as women playing the characters," says Crystal, who appears on stage alongside Zoe Lambert, who played Emmerdale's Rachel Whatmore; Amanda Hadingue, Hannah McPake, Emilie Patry and Emily Winter.

"It's a female cast playing men but you kind of forget. There's no overt strut or way of being or sounding to be like men."

She says the play is still as relevant today because of the timeless quality it has of showing the way we see ourselves.

"People can always find a way to call themselves a victim even if they aren't," she says. "You see that all over the world in different governments: everyone thinking the way they're doing it is the right way when sometimes they are doing things that are completely horrible.

"It's just really interesting to see that on this level with all of these men - none of them are doing the right thing but they are each finding a way to justify themselves."

The Dundee Rep production opened in Glasgow's Tron Theatre on Wednesday and Crystal is delighted to be back on familiar territory.

After graduation she moved to London but she says she will always have a soft spot for Glasgow.

She said: "Glasgow is such a good city. I really loved the city and the people but most of all the course: it gave me such good practice and helped me make my mistakes there before I went out into the professional world.

"It was such a lovely and comforting, nurturing environment. Everyone was amazing and took care of each other, it was so valuable to have had something like that."

l The Gamblers, Tron Theatre, Glasgow, until tomorrow. For tickets, visit www.tron.co.uk or call 0141 552 4267.

angela.mcmanus@eveningtimes.co.uk