Stars of the new sci-fi action movie The Last Airbender have walked the red carpet at the world premiere in New York.

The film is based on the popular Nickelodeon animated series and is directed by M. Night Shyamalan, the man behind the blockbuster film The Sixth Sense.

The lead character in the movie is a young boy called Aang, played by Noah Ringer.

The young actor was cast for the role as he is skilled in martial arts but the 12-year-old was only given one month to learn how to act.

However, the star was completely unfazed: "It was so fun. My (acting) teacher was fantastic and going through that journey, learning how to do what I love now was just so fun and I really enjoyed it".

Not only did Ringer have to learn how to act but he also had to learn additional martial arts styles for the role.

The young actor said: "It was a lot of fun because I had to learn a different style, Wushu, which is different from my usual style Tea Kwon Do, which is really hard and fast. I learned to soften it up, use more artistic flow and it was just so fun for me".

You can catch The Last Airbender in cinemas from August 13.