Judi Shekoni - Shekoni Pens Acting Self-help Guide To Working In The U.s.

The one-time soap star, who will play vampire Zafrina in the new Twilight Breaking Dawn movies, is the brains behind The Film & Television Guide to Working in America.

The actress reveals she learned the hard way - and squandered her savings on visas, hustlers and expensive advisers - and now she wants to help other Brits dreaming of success in Hollywood and New York avoid the nightmare she went through.

The former EastEnders star tells WENN, "I didn't realise you needed a work permit to work. I didn't know nothing (sic) and so basically I just spent my money trying to figure out what to do... There are so many mistakes that you make and there are so many things people don't tell you.

"I thought it would be of great service to put this information down in a book so that someone could spend three hours reading it and get all that information, rather than it taking them three years and costing them their savings."

The book started life as a pamphlet Shekoni would offer to friends who wanted to work as an actor or actress in the U.S. and she began to realise she had a lot to offer.

She adds, "There's also so much choice in Los Angeles - you want an acting teacher, there are 10,000 acting teachers, there are 20,000 photographers. There are so many of everything and there's everything from hustlers who are just taking your money to people who are at the top of their craft.

"By writing the book out and publishing the book it made me feel better about some of the experiences I've had here."