A NASTY bout of the flu turned into a golden opportunity for Stephanie Catiron.

The St Albans resident was cursing her luck when she fell sick shortly before a big audition for television drama Rush.

“I was really sick and feeling awful and I thought this is a nightmare,” Stephanie said.

“I couldn’t believe I’d got sick right before an audition.”

But the seemingly unhappy occurrence turned into a stroke of luck for the 24-year-old who ended up winning the role.

The young actor was feeling so unwell, she had no trouble channelling the frustrations and emotions of a struggling mother.

She appeared as a guest actor on the show this month.

The show’s producers were so impressed by her performance, they have offered her a recurring role in the drama.

“I got a call from my agent this week telling me about it and I was really excited,” Stephanie said.

“I guess they must have seen something in me that they liked.”

Stephanie will play the wife of one of the show’s main characters, a policeman from the Critical Incident Response Team.

Although she has also appeared in Blue Heelers, the young actor admitted to feeling a little apprehensive on her first day of shooting Rush.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous,” she said.

“But I think it worked in my favour because it made me work harder to get it right.”

Stephanie studies at Screen Actors Australia but works part-time as a waitress in a Sunshine café to pay the bills.

“I guess I’m a bit of a cliché,” she joked.

She is due to shoot several episodes of Rush in September.

The program will air on Channel Ten later this year.