THE son of Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark is to make his acting debut at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
James Clements, 21, is set to follow his parents into showbusiness with a starring role in the play Dear Friend.
He is currently studying to be an actor at New York University and has formed a theatre company with friends to put on the show.
James is the son of Ms Wark and her television executive husband Alan Clements.
And his famous mother is already helping to promote his fledgling career by encouraging audiences to go and see the play in August.
Ms Wark, 58, who also hosts The Review Show, posted a link to the play's website on her Twitter page with the message: "Shameless promotion – my son's first Fringe show with NYU classmates. It's a must see – though I am a little biased."
James told how it would be an honour to perform in his home country.
He said: "I grew up around the festival. I would go every year and it was a big part of what inspired me to be an artist.
He added: "Dear Friend is a study of what it is to be human, of the contradictions we feel and the challenges we face every day."
James's theatre company Apt 502 raised more than £4000 from sponsors to pay for their travel and accommodation in Edinburgh.
As a teenager at Hyndland Secondary in Glasgow, he founded events company Presentable Productions which organised under-18s clubs, private house parties, dinners, and receptions. And as a 15-year-old he made his catwalk debut at a charity fashion show featuring Harris Tweed. Earlier this year, Ms Wark, who starred on Celebrity Masterchef, revealed she took up baking to help ease the guilt of being away from her children while working.
She said: "I bake every weekend and have done since the children were little. I think I baked as an antidote to guilt – guilt at working and being away all the time. When I was baking, I felt I was back in the home properly.
"My son and daughter are at university now and I always take baking with me when I visit."
Dear Friend is at the Greenside venue in Edinburgh from August 19 to 24.
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