'Dream' Olivier nomination for dyslexic actor

Ollie Savile was well aware pursuing an acting career would be a challenge after being diagnosed with dyslexia.

When he looks at a script for the first time, it is a "scramble" of letters that can take him time to properly order into sentences.

But the 36-year-old has now been nominated for a prestigious Olivier Award, a nomination he said "means everything" to him and seemed out of reach when he was younger.

Savile is nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category for two roles - a wolf and a prince - that he plays in the Stephen Sondheim musical Into the Woods, staged at London's Bridge Theatre.

"To go into a job where the whole premise is words and lifting words off a page has been a challenge," said Savile, who is originally from Buxton in Derbyshire.

It was only after he had left school and was doing a BTEC in Musical Theatre at Manchester City College that Savile was diagnosed with dyslexia.

"I didn't know what it was. I just knew that I struggled reading and I struggled learning lines," he added.

Savile thanked his father Marcus for patiently helping him learn lines at the start of his career.

"He used to sit with me in the kitchen and he used to figure out different ways to get these lines in my head. I still use some of these techniques today," he said.

"But basically I have got to read those lines more times than you can imagine.

"I hid it for years, especially going to drama school when I first started out in the industry, because I didn't want it to be a hindrance to me."

But now, Savile has accepted he has dyslexia and is more open about it when at work and asks for longer to read and digest scripts.

Savile says he is keen for young people in his situation to get tested for dyslexia.

He believes that in some ways the condition can be an advantage as it allows him to see the "bigger picture".

"It has definitely had its challenges but I am finding out it is a bit of a superpower because I look at the world differently to everybody else," he added.

"I think most dyslexics have a creative flair and it is this that has got me where I am now."

Savile has also played Frank-N-Furter in the Rocky Horror Show and alongside Sting in Hollywood in his musical 'The Last Ship'.

It is the 50th anniversary of the Olivier Awards, which celebrates theatre, and this year's event will be hosted by Nick Mohammed at the Royal Albert Hall. It will be screened on BBC Two at 19:00 BST.

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