WHEN Joy McAvoy tells a tale featuring her famous brother admiration abounds. Why? It’s not about an actress looking to cash in on fame by Hollywood association. McAvoy’s story suggests that isn’t what the lady, set to star BBC comedy Two Doors Down, is about at all.

The female McAvoy appeared alongside big brother James back in 2013, when she landed a kick-ass role in Filth, the Irvine Welsh black comedy.

Now, it had been widely assumed the actress from Drumchapel had been handed the part, thanks to a little bit of nepotism. “People always assume that,” she says, with a wry smile. 

However, that’s not how her personal script played out at all. 

“I didn’t even tell my brother I was auditioning for the part. I didn’t want him to put in a good word or anything. And I didn’t want him to feel bad if I didn’t get it. I wanted the role on merit. And I got it on merit.” 

The siblings grew up with their grandparents after their parents split.

Was it the usual brother-sister rivalry? Did they thump each other? “Oh, aye,” she says, grinning; “All brothers and sisters do that. You get the deidies a lot [dead arms from little flat punches] and the Chinese burns.” She grins; “Can I say that? Is it PC?” 

Her voice becomes a little more serious. “In recent years, I’ve been able to ask his advice a lot. And at times when I’ve been quiet I’ve been able to work as his PA on a couple of films and that’s like an acting masterclass for me. I get to sit by the monitors and watch what he does with a script.”

The notion of becoming a performer, however, arrived in her 10-year-old head independently of her brother’s love of acting. She recalls she would stare at the TV screen, watching her favourite movies such as in Grease or Dirty Dancing “over and over again” until she learned all the lines.

“I would go to bed and recite whole movies as the lead characters.”

Her school, St Thomas Aquinas, had a “brilliant” music department, which encouraged the teenager’s singing, but, keen to act, the then 14-year-old took herself off to Scottish Youth Theatre. 

“I loved it. And I knew I wanted to be an actress. But my poor granddad would be saying ‘Are you sure you don’t want to be a doctor or an architect, Joy?’ I said, ‘No. I want a life of perpetual struggle. I want to be an actress.’”

McAvoy, however, remembers the early impact big brother’s new life (he was around 16) had on her. “I’d never read a film script before and he was working on The Near Room with David Hayman at the time. I would sneak into his bedroom and try to learn the script, seeing his lines all highlighted, and then put it back when he came home. This script represented the Holy Grail for me.”

The Holy Grail world began to become a reality when McAvoy was accepted for drama college. But when she exited the doors of the college for the last time, McAvoy discovered the doors of film and television were hard to prise open. 

“I got books and read up on Acting For Camera. You have to teach yourself.” She adds, grinning; “I want to say sorry to all those casting directors who had to sit and listen to me in that first year.”

I recall the last time we met she was working in Oran Mor. “I loved working there,” she says. “I’d love to work more regularly as an actor but that’s the nature of the business.”

Some very good acting work has come along however. McAvoy enjoyed a stint in BBC1’s River City (“my granny really loved that”) and the likes of Channel 4’s cop drama, No Offence.

Right now, McAvoy is set to star in Two Doors Down, Gregor Sharp and Simon Carlyle’s hit comedy that’s as cutting as a hairdresser’s new scissors. McAvoy plays the newbie on the street, Michele, whose partner Alan is played by the irrepressible actor-wrestler, Grado.

What’s gleamed from Joy McAvoy is she’s a grafter, a woman who works hard and is thankful for whatever joy life offers. At the moment, she still can’t believe she’s had the chance to work alongside “acting royalty” such as Elaine C Smith.

“I don’t need to be famous,” she says, in soft voice. “So long as I can pay the bills and I don’t have to worry about eating. I’ve never had to be rich. I would just love to be a regular working actress. If I could have a tenth of my brother’s success that would be amazing.”

She says she owes Drumchapel. “It gave me a lot of great grounding.” She adds, with a smile: “It would have been nicer to have a little more to do there.”