She got a role in the film after spotting an advert in the Manx Independent seeking a ten-year-old Afro-caribbean girl.

The Peel Clothworkers' School pupil sent off her photo and was snapped up.

'She went in for a make-over and was sitting talking to Penelope Cruz. But this doesn't mean anything to her because she's too young,' said Kalifa's mum Katherine.

Kalifa, who lives in Carmane Close, Peel, spent around two-and-a-half hours in a bath in a derelict house in Ramsey being filmed playing dead, and that was after she had been in make up having bruises painted on to her face for the part.

However, filming did have its glamorous side. Kalifa met the film's other stars including Rhys Ifans, who appears in her scenes, Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas and had her own trailer.

Filming of Chromophobia finished in the Island on Wednesday. However, the film is to continue being shot in London in the winter and the film is expected to be released in November 2005.