Toti song bird and actress Alaska Hilton is well on her way to fulfilling her dream of becoming a famous personality.
The 13-year-old has signed a deal with Lee Boria of Boria Entertainment in New York and the UK to represent her in singing and acting in the States.
“I think of myself as a singer who acts and dances, although I’ve been dancing for 10 years and acting for six,” said the grade 8 Amanzimtoti High School pupil.
Alaska may not be trained in acting, but to date her acting CV is impressive.
Last year at the Royal Showstoppers held on 30 May, Alaska placed third overall.
At the Talent Africa regional awards she achieved above 80% for vocal solo and musical theatre and placed first in her age group.
She was selected to represent KZN in Roodepoort for the nationals, where she won gold for vocal Broadway, vocal country and vocal duet, gold for musical theatre and vocal open and was selected for the SA team to represent South Africa in the Talent America competition in New York.
In New York she competed against some 800 contestants from the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Mexico, South Africa and Australia. She received the Pinnacle Trophy for highest points scored in singing and highest points scored in dance overall (highest accolade), first places in musical theatre song and dance, classical duet, and inspirational, a second and third place in the pop category, a second place in the country category, a third place in the jazz category and a fourth place in the Broadway vocal category.
Not content with all this going on, she also appeared on stage in Amanzimtoti Primary School’s ‘The Genie’ in September, where she played the lead role of Jasmine.
In February and October Alaska performed in ‘Queens of the Opera’ at the Rhumbelow Theatre in Durban.
She was selected for the lead role of Cosette in Amanzimtoti High’s production of ‘Les Miserables’, which is to be staged in April.
With such a busy ‘work’ life, the young singer and actress admitted it’s difficult to balance her school work in between her work commitments. “I do my homework at school and I study in between rehearsals if I have to. I always make time for my studies first before rehearsals.
As such, Alaska has no time for sport, but makes time for her other passion – animals. “I have four dogs, two cats and an African grey parrot that talks,” she said.
Her new agency is keen to get her into commercials and has requested model portfolio photographs, something Alaska is not too keen on. “I used to model when I was very young and I used to win, but I stopped.
I hope to get onto Broadway and the West End and record my own songs.” The talented Toti teen has already written and produced two of her own compilations and written the lyrics for 10 others.
“I just need to put music to them. I am trained in music and can play the piano, but I would like to read music better.
I think 2016 is going to be a big year for me and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for me.
I really want to become famous.”
