'It's brilliant being an actress!"

Paula with co-stars Shirley Henderson and Kevin McKidd

10 April 2012

A little girl, no more than 10 years old, comes up to Paula Sage and asks for her autograph. Paula, barely an inch taller than her young fan, beams and takes the pen and carefully writes: "Have a fab day, love from Paula."

It is the first autograph she's been asked for but it won't be the last. Wednesday night was the premiere of AfterLife, and Paula, 24, is the undoubted star of this low-budget independent film. She is clearly enjoying every moment of her new-found fame - a whirlwind of TV interviews, photographs and gushing praise for her performance. She must be getting bored of hearing how wonderful she is. "Are you stupid? It's awesome," she says with a huge smile.

We are sitting in a pub across the road from the after-show party in Mayfair. "I'm not drinking tonight," she says, sipping a Diet Coke. What does she like drinking? "Wine or shandy," she says with a mischievous grin.

To my shame, I was nervous about meeting Paula. Would she understand my questions? Would I understand her answers? Paula has Down's syndrome and it's this sort of ignorance that her role in AfterLife seeks to challenge.

I feel stupid for worrying - she's bright, funny and, although her older brother Mark is with us to act as "interpreter", she doesn't really need him; she might take a while to mull over a question, but she gets there in the end. "Eh, excuse me!" she says in her thick Scottish accent, playfully punching him on the arm, whenever he finds himself answering for her. This is her time in the spotlight and she's not going to share it.

Her role is radical, not only because a disabled character is at the centre of the film but because, unlike Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man and Daniel Day-Lewis in My Left Foot, the character is played by an actor who really is disabled. It is thrilling to see Paula on screen at first, and then it just becomes, well, "normal" to see her there, which is surely the point.

The film, which opens tonight, follows an ambitious young journalist (Kevin McKidd of Trainspotting fame) who has to deal with the responsibility of caring for his disabled younger sister, Roberta, when his mother (played by Lindsay Duncan) becomes terminally ill. When the film was in its early stages, still trying to find funding, one executive asked: "Don't you think it would be better to make Roberta autistic?", the implication being that it would be more " comfortable" for the audience, and any glossy actress could play her. But the director, Alison Peebles, was determined that an actress with Down's should play the part.

"Her character is central to the plot," she says. "She is not just a cute little person who enables the hero to

shine; she has a voice of her own."

The script by Andrea Gibb was inspired by her sister, Sharon, who also has Down's. It is fascinating to see a disabled character portrayed in a way that is as complicated and rounded as any other character. Roberta is, at times, funny, annoying, sweet, likeable and spoilt.

"We do have some similarities," says Paula. "We don't like going on planes, we both like chocolate and we love

bingo." But where Roberta is cocooned from the world by her mother, Paula is fiercely independent. "My mum and dad make me do things for myself."

Paula was adopted when she was a baby by Alan Sage, a university lecturer, and his wife, Mary. She knows nothing about her real parents. Her older sister, Marie-Louise, was also adopted. "Paula is more than a gift to us," says Mary Sage. "Paula was very much our choice, that's how special she is to us. She was chosen."

PAULA still lives at home in a small town outside Glasgow. The money she earns from the film will certainly help her become much more independent. Would she like to get her own place? "Yes please! I might move in five years. I'll be 29 then." Everyone has to move out of home by the time they're 30, I say. She agrees. "I do my own washing and ironing and I love cooking. 'What was the latest thing I made?'" she asks her brother. "Beans on toast?" he teases. "Cheeky!" she says.

About 600 babies are born in the UK every year with Down's syndrome, caused by an extra chromosome. In the past, people with Down's were not expected to hold down proper jobs or live beyond their thirties, but nowadays they are encouraged to be independent, and the prognosis is much better, with the average life expectancy around 60 years.

Paula attended mainstream primary and secondary schools, although she went to a special school for some lessons. She says that nobody was ever mean to her and she loved school. "I passed all my exams except one." Drama? I jokingly ask. She laughs. "Thanks a lot. No, science."

Nowadays, Paula has such an active social life, I'm amazed she has time to be a film star. Her week is packed with classes and clubs. She counts them on her fingers. "I go to a social club on Saturday morning; we play music, have a chat, have lunch. On Monday night I go to another club, Tuesday I go to netball. I play any position apart from goalie, I'm not tall enough for that."

Her netball team is competing in the Special Olympics next year. "On Wednesday night I go to another sports club. On Thursday, I go to a religious group. On Friday I do drama. I love drama."

It was at this club that Paula was spotted by Alison Peebles. The director visited special-needs groups throughout Scotland. At Paula's first audition there were 12 other potential Robertas, and after several rounds it was between Paula and another girl.

"It was like Pop Idol," she says, laughing. "It was brilliant. I won!" Quite simply, Paula was a natural. "I learned my lines the night before a scene. Sometimes I forgot them and we'd have to do it again but so did everyone. It was fantastic. We all got on really well."

In the film, she has to sing really badly and insists: "I'm much better in real life." She loves music, and cites Boyzone, Westlife, the Beatles and Elvis as her favourites. She was very upset when Maurice Gibb died because the Bee Gees are also one of her favourite bands. When she had to do her crying scenes in the film, she thought about him.

I ask who her favourite actresses are, she has to think for a long time. "I don't really like anyone," she says. "Apart from Shirley Henderson and Lindsay Duncan [her co-stars in AfterLife]."

Her brother offers some advice: "Ask her about the men." I do and suddenly Paula is reeling off a list: "Robert Carlyle, Ewan McGregor, any James Bond - Sir Sean, he's my favourite. And the Governor." I look blank. "Arnie!" she says. "I love him. I'd love to be in a film with him. Please! Let me work with Arnie."

Paula agrees that the rest of her drama group must be very envious of her success. "David, who is in the group with me, said I was fantastic," she says. Is he her boyfriend? "No! I have got a boyfriend. We've been together quite a while. He's a wee bit older than me, about 25 or 26, but we're both Pisces. I can still remember our first date. He phoned me and took me to a carnival in Glasgow. It was fantastic, very romantic."

Has he seen the film? "Yes, he loved it." He also has special needs and is Paula's first boyfriend. Would she like to get married? "I might do but we'll have to see. That's all I'm saying!"

And then there are the surprising things she does say. She's wonderfully direct. When she met Sean Connery at the Edinburgh premiere, she told him he went to the same school as her grandfather. "And what school might that be?" he asked. "You went there, you should know," she said.

The producers of AfterLife have offered to help vet scripts to ensure she chooses good roles in the future. "I'd love to be in a Harry Potter film," she says. She will, of course, always be typecast. "I don't mind," she says. "It would be good to see a wider range of people in films." But Paula knows she ought to keep her options open. "I need a job," she says. "Maybe in an office because I'm good with computers." But with critics raving about her performance, it's unlikely she'll be away from our screens for long.

If there is living proof that a person with Down's syndrome can lead a fulfilling and fabulous life, it's Paula. Does she ever wish she was ... ? I nearly say " normal". Paula, both ordinary and extraordinary, knows what I mean. "I'm happy and healthy. I love what I'm doing. It's brilliant!"

She gives another of her huge smiles and goes off to sign more autographs.

AfterLife opens tonight at the Odeon, Covent Garden (0871 224 4007). For information about Down's syndrome visit www.downs-syndrome.org.uk.

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