A former Northampton College student has been starring alongside Michael Bublé in one of this year’s smash-hit Christmas TV adverts.
Josiah Eloi, a former acting student at Booth Lane, landed a plum role alongside the Canadian superstar in Asda’s Christmas advertising campaign.
Josiah plays Michael’s Chief Quality Control Officer in the ad, now being broadcast into millions of homes in the run up to the big day.
Having left Northampton College in 2017, he went on to study drama and acting at UWE Bristol, graduating in 2020 and slowly making his way into the profession ever since.
Speaking to the university earlier this month, Joshua said: “I went through a long casting process for this role. Initially, I had no idea who the director or star involved were. A few days after I had been cast, I had a phone call and found out everything.”
To Josiah’s amazement he learnt that filmmaker Taika Waititi was directing the advert and had personally picked Josiah for the role: “This was incredible for me. Taika directed the last two Thor films and wrote, starred, and directed my favourite film, JoJo Rabbit. This was a full circle moment. He's also Rita Ora's husband which is really fab.”
Josiah had the pleasure of working alongside Michael for three days; he made time to get to know the cast members which Josiah says really made the experience very special: “I can honestly say Michael is lovely. After the shoot he came out in trainers and jeans and had a drink with us all. We just hung out. I was sitting next to him on my phone when he was facetiming his wife.
“He made the effort to find out who I was and check out my socials before meeting me. My Christmas dinner brag is Michael Bublé has seen my Instagram!
“By the end we were chatting about films, what he was having for dinner and my go-to takeaway. He also gave me a load of advice and taught me how parts of the industry worked.”
Christmas adverts from the UK’s biggest brands are always hotly anticipated, and Josiah says this opportunity is like gold dust for an actor: “To know I have been a part of a Christmas advert, in a great role alongside a legend, really is incredible.
“I didn’t go to drama school when I was young, my car falls apart all the time and I still forget what day the bins go out. So, to be thrown into this world is one of the most exciting things that’s ever happened.
“It was also incredible getting to see how all the behind-the-scenes stuff works – how sound producers mix things, how video editors cut it all together. I mean, I had no idea TV cameras were the size of small horses.”
Josiah is currently starring in pantomime in Portsmouth and will finish six consecutive months of Christmas work on 31 December. He is due to return to Booth Lane early next year to talk to current students about his career progression.
