Kaitlin Cheung may be only 11 years old, but she has already achieved more than many actors much older than her.
The young Burnaby actor is in the Philippines shooting the upcoming feature film Hope Rises, in which she has the leading role of Hope.
Kaitlin - who was a recipient of the 2011 Young Artist Award for her performance in the short film The Perfect Gift for Flora - stars in director David Bolt's story, inspired by his work with the Bring Me Hope Foundation. The foundation's mission is to improve the lives of Chinese orphans.
Hope Rises tells the story of young Hope, whose poverty-stricken and desperate father sells her into slavery. During a crackdown of gang with which she is being held, an American filmmaker named Nate meets Hope for the first time. Amid the chaos of the gang crackdown, Hope flees and must fend for herself, eventually forming a family with some other street kids. She and Nate later reunite and forge a bond.
Bolt collaborated with Brian Godawa on the story and screenplay, along with Austin Sheeley on the screenplay.
"The story of the Chinese orphan deserves to be told," Bolt said in the press release. "What Hope Rises has to contribute to that story has been gleaned from nearly a decade of firsthand work with discarded children. This film can save an orphan from a lifetime of pain, and that, in 11 words, is how it came to be."
Kaitlin has worked on several other films, including And The Fish Can Fly, Frank, Melman, Ensconce Us, Trees and Ministers of Human Fate. She also has a role as a dancer in the upcoming feature film Heart of Dance, which chronicles a yhigh school senior's quest to fulfill her late younger sister's dream of becoming a dancer.
Kaitlin has also appeared on the television series Fairly Legal, appeared as a featured extra in the movie Diary of a Wimpy Kid and appeared in several commercials and ads.
She's also a trained ballet, jazz and tap dancer.
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