In two months he will be mixing with Hugh Grant but for now Richard Hawley is quite content with his job as a teacher.

The Brighton-based actor, known for parts in ITV's Prime Suspect, Jane Eyre and the Channel 5 soap Family Affairs, has landed a role alongside Grant in the film Love Actually, which is being shot in September.

Before then, he is channelling his energies into helping students at the Academy for Creative Training (ACT) in Rock Place, Kemp Town, where he has just started teaching.

Richard, 46, said: "I taught at a workshop last year and enjoyed it so much I started jointly teaching the acting technique course a few weeks ago.

"One of the reasons I wanted to teach was to both give and take back.

"It is a way to keep practising your art and is a big learning curve for me.

"Humans have the tendency to think one person has the answer to things but I don't agree.

"There are just people who are further on than others."

ACT was set up five years ago after a group of producers, directors, writers and agents, including Lionel Bart, who wrote the musical version of Oliver!, realised that raw creative talent was lying undiscovered and undeveloped.

They decided to create a centre of excellence, which eventually became ACT.

Vice principal Janette Eddisford said: "The idea was to set up a place where the timetable accommodates people who have to work to pay bills while at the same time ensuring they get the very best training.

"We have been successful. Most of our former students are working in the industry and one of them, Sidney Sloan, is the face of CBeebies.

"The problem is we need funding.

"We have one sponsored place, the Lionel Bart Award, but we need more.

"There are people we want to give a place to and who have a lot of talent but cannot afford the fees."

All the teachers at the school are working directors or actors.

With Love Actually on the horizon, Richard has also recently been filming The Hound Of The Baskervilles for the BBC and taking part in some cutting edge theatre at the Vienna Festival.

He said: "People come to ACT on a dream.

"Everyone goes into acting on a dream and we have a responsibility not to manipulate that dream but to give foundation stones. Taking our own experiences as actors, we can be very responsive in what we teach."

ACT runs two-week workshops, foundation courses and two-year drama courses. The two-year students are selected on the abilities they display during the workshops, which are open to all.

Anyone who is interested in courses or sponsoring a student should call 01273 818267.