Shorty St is on the hunt for it's newest star!

New Zealand's favourite soap is on the hunt for its newest (and littlest) cast member - a newborn baby.

Young nurse Lucy Rickman (played by Grace Palmer) is pregnant with her ambulance driver husband Ali Karim's (played by Tane Williams-Accra ) baby on Shortland Street and casting director Andrea Kelland is recruiting for the role.

The infant will need to be about 2-weeks-old when filming starts later this month, of mixed African and European descent, and live in west Auckland so the new mum won't have to travel far to get to the studio.

"Obviously it has to be ethnically believable to be Ali's baby - that's why we're going for African, Middle Eastern," Kelland said.

The job description was a bit different from that of your usual acting gig - being able to sleep, eat and cry convincingly were a must, but no previous acting experience was required.

"We don't ask them for anything spectacular," Kelland said. "Just be a newborn that's all."

The show was keeping details about how much the baby - or perhaps their parents - would be paid under wraps.

Kelland was also tight-lipped about what gender the Karim baby would be. 

However she told the Weekend Herald what a typical day on set would involve for the little one and their mum.

"We have a room where there's a comfy chair and then we gently introduce one actor parent at a time. [They] come in and just be around the baby before it goes on set.

"We try to keep the baby's exposure to being on set to a minimum. We just do [each take] once with the baby and then the rest of the time we're just doing the grown up actors looking like they're holding the baby."

Anyone wanting to audition their baby can contact Kelland at [email protected]

Even if you're not a baby, you could still star on the Street! The Wake Up Call have a sick opportunity to win a walk-on role - for all the dets click here!

- NZ Herald