A BLAENAU man has played a key role in three films that recently won Golden Globes - and has now set his sights on them winning an Oscar or two.

Arwel Evans worked as the art director on Happy Go Lucky, which saw Sally Hawkins win best actress in a comedy or musical, In Bruges, in which Colin Farrell won best actor, and blockbuster Slumdog Millionaire, which won all four awards it was nominated for.

He also has more than a passing interest in next month’s BAFTAs, with two of the films getting 14 nominations in total, while Slumdog Millionaire is odds-on favourite to win Best Film at this year’s Oscars.

But the 38-year-old isn’t getting carried away with it all.

“It is going pretty well at the moment but I’ve worked on plenty of things that have gone under the bridge and never been heard of again,” he laughed.

“I did work on The Constant Gardener, which won an Oscar, but it would be great if a couple of this year’s films could get an Oscar or two.”

A cabinet-maker by trade, Evans’s big break came in 1997 hit House of America and, since then, the former Ysgol Tre-gib pupil hasn’t looked back.

“I had been working on the sets of Welsh TV programmes before then, but that was my real big break,” he said.

The casts on films Evans, a former Blaenau RFC player and occasional Guardian correspondent, has worked on read like a who’s who of Hollywood, but he is reluctant to name who his favourite superstar has been.

“I enjoy working with unknown actors just as much,” he said.

“Dev Patel (who plays the lead role in Slumdog Millionaire) was unheard of before the film, but I doubt his feet will touch the ground again.”

Despite the globetrotting nature of his job, the father-of-two says he’s never happier than when he’s back home in Blaenau with his wife Emma and daughters, nine-year-old Elin Rhiannon and Lowri Manon, six, who both attend Blaenau Primary School.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to work all over the world from South Africa to India with Slumdog Millionaire, and even on a Russian ice-breaking ship, which was an experience.” he said.

“I do go all over the world but I’m a Blaenau boy, born and bred, and I always look forward to coming home, even if my first job is usually cleaning out the rabbits!”.