Carl Williams used to dance in secret in front of his mirror so his family wouldn't tease him.

He kept his love of pirouetting locked up until he finally felt brave enough to tackle the taunts of his schoolmates and take to the stage as a ballet dancer.

Now Carl, 11, feels his life has been turned into a film. The long hours in a dance studio, the giggling girls in tutus and the doubting male relatives are things he has shared with his celluloid alter-ego Billy Elliott.

New Britflick Billy Elliott tells the gritty tale of an 11-year-old boy who defies his miner father to pursue his love of ballet.

Just like the film's lead, Billy, Carl battled against prejudice to pursue his passion for dance.

Carl's father never tried to stop his son from becoming a ballet dancer. But he was uneasy about the idea. His parents have no idea where his love of dance comes from.

Mum Jackie, 41, works for the Post Office. Her husband, Stewart, is a printer. None of the family was ever interested in dance, ballet or the stage.

The family sometimes joke they picked up the wrong baby in a hospital mix-up. But Jackie is very proud of her ballet-dancing son: "He was about six when he first got interested in dancing. He was always jigging around, always singing, always the first up at a disco.

"We thought at first it was just a stage he was going through. But he stayed interested in it and eventually started going to dance classes. He started off with tap, I think because he thought it was more manly, but underneath he was always interested in ballet."

Carl got teased at school, and often by his older brother Scott, for his love of ballet dancing. But he dealt with bullies by ignoring them and by proving them wrong when they said dancing was wimpy.

He said: "I was worried about being teased at school when I first started but I just ignore it now. I want to show people I mean it."

Carl's talent won round his dad and his brother after their initial uneasiness.

Jackie said: "I think my husband at first was hoping it would dwindle away but once he saw Carl dance on stage he got into the idea a bit more."

Scott, 14, used to be Carl's biggest critic. But he now goes to see his younger brother in every performance and grudgingly admits: "I don't know much about it but he looks good."

One of the things that swung Scott round was realising Carl had a "six-pack" stomach and bigger muscles than he did. Male ballet dancers have to be strong and extremely agile so Carl trains six days a week.

One of Carl's fellow ballet dancers, 13-year-old Kate Plass, said: "He is a really good dancer, for his age and being a boy and everything. He's the only boy I know who does ballet."

Carl says he wants to be famous one day and would love to dance for the Royal Ballet.

He said: "I think the film really sounds like me. I was really surprised when I heard they were making a film about a boy ballet dancer. But I won't be able to watch it - it's got a 15 certificate."