It was just a tiny part in a big movie, but being an extra in a box-office topping movie is opening new roads for Gloucester resident Ashley Hurst Hollins.

Hollins, a teacher at Bethel Elementary, said she has no training or experience in acting but an online ad saying “be part of something big” caught her eye. “It talked about costumes and all of that and it sounded like that would be fun,” she said.

Hollins applied as an extra for “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2,” which was being filmed in Georgia, in February of last year. “I got a call that said they wanted me,” she said, but she delayed the commitment. “My husband was the one who really encouraged me to do it. He’s been a big supporter.”

Hollins arranged for some time off from work and traveled to Atlanta with her sister, who had a good friend who lived near the filming site and offered the sisters a place to stay. They arrived in early spring and we...