Band of Brothers was critically acclaimed

The original story followed the story of paratroop unit Easy Company from training to the end of the Second World War in Europe.

The Pacific: Band of Brothers II tells the story of the American war against the Japanese in the Far East.

For Marty McCann it is the opportunity of a lifetime, and comes on the heels of a role in Lord Attenborough's film Closing the Ring, which was filmed in Belfast.

The 23-year-old is a familiar face to fans of the BBC Northern Ireland comedy series Dry Your Eyes, where he plays a trendy young priest.

"I was lucky enough to be doing a few plays in Belfast and creating a small sort of career for myself here in the theatre and a bit of television," he said.

"I landed the role in Closing the Ring because I had met Lord Attenborough a couple of times - the producer had seen me in a play I was doing.

Marty McCann played a trendy priest in Dry Your Eyes

"From that I got my London agent and they had put me up for this audition for the Pacific."

Marty and other hopefuls were taken to California for auditions for roles in the US$150m production at Tom Hanks' studio, which turned out to be an intimidating experience.

"Hanks wasn't there but Spielberg was, and there were like 16 HBO heads behind him and they were all in silhouette," he said.

"There was this huge sort of window with the sun beating down behind them, they all looked like silhouettes, these shadows of people, which is so intimidating.

"They took us in three at at time - they sent nine of us home and there was six of us left, and I was one of the six."

Marty said that Lord Attenborough had mentioned him to Spielberg, and had even sent him a copy of Closing the Ring pre-release so he could see Marty in action.

It has been a rollercoaster for the young actor, and he said that no matter what the future brings, he was lucky to be doing a job that he loves.

"Everything just astronomically worked in my favour - the actor's dream," he said.