After taking to the stage just four years ago and applying to the institute on the final day of acceptance, the Pipers River 21-year-old has proved she has a natural talent.

At the end of the month she will join 14 others from across the country to undertake a three-year theatre course at Australia's most prestigious theatre institute.

But becoming an actress wasn't always Cashion's intention.

``I went to college wanting to be a nurse,'' she said yesterday.

``Then my mother suggested that I do drama.

``I tried it and fell in love with it - I knew then that's what my ultimate direction was.''

Cashion's first staring role was as Ms Darbus in Launceston College's 2007 production of High School Musical.

She has since appeared in numerous Launceston College shows and productions with Mudlark Theatre and Encore Theatre Company.

The NIDA audition marked a first for Cashion and the acceptance letter she received mid-December was something she never expected.

``I came back to Tassie after living in Melbourne working in bars for a year, and applied on the day the applications closed,'' she said.

``It was something I always wanted to do but I didn't have the confidence.

``It's just crazy, I never thought that I would get this far - I'm still trying to come to terms with it.''

Cashion performed three monologues at her audition: one taken from The Seed, by Kate Mulvany, the second, Act 3 Scene 2 from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and the third, a monologue from Three Sisters, by Anton Chekhov.

Cashion's former drama teacher Liz Bennett said from the very first day she met Cashion, she knew she would go far. ``I remember about three weeks in, we were doing an Australian drama unit and Nicole (another Launceston College drama teacher) and I looked at each other and went: that is the most talented student we've seen,'' Ms Bennett said. ``Charlie could be the next Cate Blanchett.''