A former builder and son of a rag-and-bone man is ‘over the moon’ after winning a role in a new British film alongside legend Idris Elba.
Frankie Oatway found out yesterday he got the role John the cabbie in One Square Mile where he will star with fellow Londoners, Gemma Arterton and Idris Elba.
The 53-year-old has had an amazing journey from the son of a rag-and-bone man who collected unwanted household items in Notting Hill - then called Notting Dale - to starring in a major feature film.
His foray into acting only started three years ago by chance when he was spotted in a bar in Sydney, Australia, by a TV casting director who asked him to audition for prison guard in 33 Postcards alongside well-known actor Guy Pierce.
He got the role which opened a door into a world Frankie never thought he would be part of - he was even nominated for a Welsh Bafta last year for his role in The Ref.
“I can’t quite believe it, I'm over the moon,” he said. “I was a builder for 20 years, on BBC TV sets and then in construction so I never in a million years thought I would become an actor.
“I only recently got an agent and when he told me I’d got the John the cabbie role yesterday I was over the moon. I never thought an uneducated builder like me would be starring alongside one of the UK’s best actors. I haven’t had any training but in Australia I was told my life has been my training.”
By his own admission, Frankie, now a grandfather, was a difficult child and became a tearaway after his father died when he was just 13-years-old, leaving school without being able to read and write properly. His father, Georgie, was a boxer and their family name was respected as he was one of London's tough guys, having spent time in prison.
Frankie grew up in Kenley Street, off Walmer Road, and then joined the army’s parachute regiment at 17-years-old which he says gave him the education he had not been able to have before.
He now lives in Whitechapel and because of his success as a wheeler-dealer in National Geographic’s reality show, Strippers: Cars for Cash, he has been able to buy a house in exclusive Sandbanks, Dorset, as well as in Broad Beach outside Malibu, California.
“People always think I’m from the East End because of my cockney accent but really I’m a west Londoner. I think it’s just who I am which has meant casting directors like me for these kind of gangster, wheeler-dealer roles - you can’t really fake it. I suppose it's in my blood and you've got dodgy written all over you as my old mum used to say.
“I just hope my story inspires others and shows that anybody can have a crack at the film game.”
Frankie will be fronting a reality TV series called The Rag and Bone Man where he will be retracing his family’s footsteps and is hoping to get an audition for Urban Hymn directed by The Jackal director, Michael Caton-Jones.
One Square Mile starts filming in September and is set to be released around Christmas next year.
