Bermuda resident Brooke Burfitt has been awarded the Best Actress award at an Irish film festival.

By Any Means, a thriller starring Burfitt, premiered at the Wexford Film Festival in Ireland last weekend.

Her portrayal of reality show star Mimi Wyatt won her top honours.

The film itself won the Best Film award, with director Leighton Spence collecting both awards.

Burfitt was unable to attend the premiere, and instead found herself sitting with her husband in her Warwick home waiting for word about how the evening would turn out.

“The film was nominated for four awards: Best Director, Best Film, Best Actor and Best Actress, and I had my fingers crossed we would get something,” she said.

“Leighton texted a photo at 8pm of two awards sitting on the stage. My heart stopped and then a following text came through saying I had won Best Actress and we took home the prize of the night — Best Film.

“It was such a shock. My husband, Rhys, was thrilled and rushed down to the local service station to buy a bottle of something fizzy to celebrate.”

Burfitt, who is originally from Chiswick in London, moved to the island last year and has already become involved in the local theatre scene.

She starred in the Bermuda Musical Dramatic Society’s production of William Shakespeare’s The Taming of The Shrew this summer.

“The theatre and talent here is incredible,” she said. “The week I arrived on the island, BIFF was running and there were so many workshops and events going on, that I just got wrapped up and inspired by it all.”

The film, which was shot last October in New York, is about a “C-list reality show star” who is abducted by a man in desperate need of money to save his terminally ill daughter.

Thomas Gipson plays the kidnapper, Frank Watson, while reality television stars Jonathan Cheban and Michelle Money both appear in the film.

Burfitt said the role of Mimi was her most challenging to date. “Mimi is calculating and egocentric and so her personality makes it difficult for you to sympathise with her during a traumatic ordeal.

“But it was fascinating because it is such a different role to the sweet girl-next-door I would normally play and I have never had to push myself as hard.”