British actress Rebecca Hazlewood has been signed up for a lead role in an American film following a recent trip to Los Angeles.

She will be playing the love interest in an independent production directed by Amyn Kaderali titled Kissing Cousins. It is his first feature film.

The 25 year old actress is part of a growing trend of British actors of Asian origin looking to explore opportunities in Hollywood. In an earlier article many told AIM magazine they were growing tired of being "stuck in a rut" in London.

She flew to LA to attend a course in method training. She said that made it easier to meet others in the film and television industry. "I ended up meeting other actors because I was already in that circle. From there it was easy to get hooked into a network of people," she said.

"I was definitely lucky in getting work there. I met a lot of actors who weren't being considered for work. There's a distinct difference between actors in NYC [she was there for three weeks] and LA though.

"Every actor I met in NY seemed to be doing something whether paid or not, in the theatre or underground scene, whereas people in LA were a lot more relaxed about it."

After a month of training she met an agent by chance who said she might be suitable for an upcoming film. That led to an audition for Kissing Cousins and eventually the part.

She says: "I accepted the film because it was the lead role and I liked the director's energy. And I wanted to move into the Hollywood film industry and I wanted to be back in LA!"

This is Hazlewood's second role as a lead character in a feature film. She previously starred in FilmFour's Dog Eat Dog. Another short film titled 'Sucking is a Fine Quality in Women and Vacuum Cleaners' (website) was recently completed. Another film for FilmFour is in post-production.

The upcoming actress is most known for her roles in ITV dramas Crossroads (18 months) and Bad Girls (6 months).

Kissing Cousins is about a hard-hearted bachelor and his attractive cousin who try to fool his friends into believing he is capable of a relationship.

It is Amyn Kaderali debut feature film, made on the back of some success with previous short films. Little Man (view here) won Best Short film at Slamdance while Call Center is extensively touring film festivals around the USA.

Since graduating with a degree in Communication Studies from UCLA, the Indian-American filmmaker has received the Martin Scorsese Young Filmmaker Award in 1996 and the Perry Ellis Breakthrough Filmmaker Award in 1997.

Filming is slated to start in June.