XAVIER SAMUEL SHOCKED BY TWILIGHT ROLE

Published on Wednesday, July 14 2010

Xavier Samuel was stunned to land a role in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse - because the Australian actor had sent countless audition tapes to Hollywood in an effort to break into the industry.

The 26 year old has enjoyed limited fame in his native country but has never managed to crack America, despite numerous tryouts for films.

He sent in a tape to audition for the third vampire movie of the franchise - and was shocked to receive a response from casting agents.

Samuel tells Interview magazine, "It's kind of like being struck by lightning in a way, because it all seems so improbable.

"I've been doing American auditions for a while, and it always felt sort of like sending these audition tapes off into the ether. So just hearing anything back from anyone was kind of startling."