WHEN she was a child growing up in Bolton, Danielle Pickup’s favourite film was the Disney animated classic Lady and the Tramp.

Little did she know that as an adult, the former visual effects student at the University of Bolton, would be part of the team working on the live action/computer animated remake, which is due to be released this month.

Danielle landed a job with world-renowned visual effects (VFX) company Framestore within weeks of graduating from Bolton in 2016 after being impressed by her showreel, which she put together using work from her degree course at Bolton.

Now she is based in the company’s Canadian headquarters in Montreal

Danielle, aged 31, has previously worked on movies such as Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Kingsman 2: The Golden Circle, Paddington 2 and the new BBC TV family drama His Dark Materials, which is also released this month.

She said: “It was my favourite Disney film as a young child. I would watch it all the time ­— probably to the annoyance of my poor mum ­—but to be a part of the remake of something I completely loved is amazing.”

Danielle, who lived in Breightmet and attended Little Lever High School, was interested in films from a young age and says she often stayed up late watching all types with her younger brothers.

She says: “It was films that made the unreal real that made me want to work in film – like The Wizard of OZ, E.T. and Jurassic Park.

“I can’t even tell you how many times my brother and I watched Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and all the Batman films.

“As well as films, I’ve always had a keen interest in fashion and art. The late Alexander McQueen fascinated me - I loved his unconventional and dark take on various themes.

“From watching these shows, I started to experiment with make-up and from there I began to play around with prosthetics.

She said an important element of the VFX course at the University of Bolton is its strong links with industry.

Daniell said: “In the final year part of one of the modules involves students presenting our showreels to Oscar-winning VFX companies.

“In my year we presented to DNEG, who have won Oscars for First man and Ex Machina and Framestore, where I currently work.

“I have been employed there since leaving university thanks to that presentation.”

She added: "One of my last projects, Christopher Robin, was nominated for the best visual effects Oscar at the awards earlier this year. That was an incredible feeling."

Richard Jones, the University’s Associate Teaching Professor and Course Leader for BSc (Hons) Visual Effects, said: “It is absolutely fantastic to see Danielle forging such a successful career within the VFX industry.

“As a student, Danielle was very focused, had a fantastic work ethic and was very organised when working on both individual and team projects."

Now Danielle is excited to see her work in Lady and the Tramp being shown to millions across the globe. British audiences will be able to see it when Disney Plus launches in the UK at the end of March.

“Hopefully it will become a favourite of the young kids today and they will love it as much as I did,” she said