The last time Elijah Kelley walked onto a stage at Callaway Stadium, he picked up his diploma from Troup High School, a graduate of the class of 2005.

On Sunday, the entertainer and emerging movie star again will be on stage at the stadium, this time for a show celebrating his 24th birthday and aimed at encouraging local students and families toward a successful school year. Proceeds will fund local scholarships and back-to-school supplies through the Elijah Kelley Foundation Fund.

So how does Kelley, who starred in the 2007 hit movie “Hairspray,” feel about performing in his hometown?

“I’m really nervous. It’s very scary,” he said.

That’s partly because it’s the first time he’ll perform songs he’s written himself, Kelley said. But it’s also because the audience will include the people who matter most to him.

“LaGrange is a place I love, and a place I’m always proud to tell people about,” said Kelley, now awaiting release of his latest movie, “Red Tails,” based on the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II, the first black combat pilots.

Performing for crowds in Hollywood or Los Angeles, where he now lives, wouldn’t faze him, Kelley said. But facing the scrutiny of the home folks, well, “It could be like somebody telling you your baby’s ugly,” he said, laughing.

Kelley has come 3,000 miles to celebrate his birthday at home, he said, “because it was laid on my heart to do it.”

And he’s willing to battle the nerves - not to mention the Georgia heat - “because I know the need in this area. … My whole thing has always been to be an example,” Kelley said.

The entertainer, who once roamed the sidelines of Callaway Stadium as the Troup “Tiger” mascot, still sees himself in a similar role.

“I’m sort of a mascot for people with dreams” he said.

He’s also become a cheerleader for education.

“I didn’t realize the value of education when I was in school,” he said, but the experiences he’s had and seeing the “big world beyond Troup County” has shown him that “It all starts with education.”

That will be his message for students in the audience Sunday. He’ll also address the importance of living with respect for yourself and others.

“If something is force fed to you, by grownups, by people in authority, it’s not always received. But I hope that hearing this type message coming from a peer - someone they may look up to - will resonate,” he said.

His mother, Evalene Flournoy, has helped orchestrate the plans and sees it as more than a back-to-school event.

Besides being a fun evening - a rare opportunity to see a homegrown movie star, plus a showcase of other outstanding talent - it’s an opportunity for families to spend time together, Flournoy said.

“Children need parents. We want whole families to come,” she said.

The evening, she hopes, could inspire parents to stay more closely involved with their children.

Flournoy has practiced what she preaches. When the youngest of her three sons graduated from Troup High and set out for Hollywood, she and her husband, Anthony Flournoy, pulled up stakes, left jobs and home behind, and went with him. Kelley lived with them during his early days in California and remains close to them, though he has lived on his own for several years now.

With her son’s career established and his head still on straight, she said, the Flournoys are moving back to LaGrange and plan to start a personal-care home here.

Kelley, meanwhile, is pursuing a variety of opportunities, including music, which he says “makes me happy and keeps me sane.” He records in a studio owned by superstar Will Smith and has gotten to know Smith and visits in his home.

Kelley is also working to develop a “Hometown Heroes” project which he describes as a cross between “Extreme Home Makeover” and “MTV Diaries.” He wants to spotlight people who’ve become successful and “gone back home” to do good things in their communities. A film crew at Sunday’s show will shoot footage of LaGrange people for possible use in the series. To suggest a hometown hero, send information to myhometownhero@gmail.com by today.

Earlier this year, he returned to the Czech Republic, where “Red Tails” was filmed in 2009, for re-shoots ordered by producer George Lucas, the “living legend” whose credits include the “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” films.

Lucas delayed the movie’s release and personally directed the re-shoots, Kelley said, to make it “bigger and more action-packed.”

Living in Europe for several months and working with the film’s impressive cast, headlined by Terrence Moore and Cuba Gooding Jr., was “amazing,” Kelley said. He expects to spend more time with them at premieres and promotional events when the movie is released.

And he thinks the delay, while frustrating, may actually work in his favor, since his role expanded during the re-write. Lucas liked the humor he brought to the role, and changed his character’s nickname from “Suicide” to “Joker,” Kelley said.

It’s important to him that the movie does justice to the remarkable accomplishments of the Tuskegee Airmen. He got to meet many of the squadron’s surviving members over several days at Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch prior to production and found them an impressive lot.

The Lucas ranch was pretty impressive, too.

“It’s about the size of LaGrange. He lives in his own little Troup County,” a grinning Kelley said.

Kelley is not looking for anything that fancy, but he hopes to buy a home in Georgia - maybe Atlanta, maybe LaGrange - in the near future.

And while he hopes to follow Will Smith’s example as both successful performer and family man, Kelley marks his 24th birthday “happily single.”

“I’m still looking for the perfect woman,” he said, flashing a grin, “but the auditions are a lot of fun.”

— ‘Back to school bash’

A ‘Back to school bash’ headlined by actor-performer and Troup High School graduate Elijah Kelley is planned for 6 p.m. Sunday at Callaway Stadium, the day he turns 24.

Kelley will headline the event, along with local motivational speaker Nigel Walker, Long Cane Middle School teacher 2010 teacher of the year, with Hollis Hand Elementary School principal Jack Morman as emcee.

The Young Singers of LaGrange, directed by Kelley mentor Stacey Hardigree, will open the show, and two local youngsters, Teanna Glenn, a rising eighth-grader, and Seth Harden, a Christian rapper, will perform.

A $7 donation is being requested at the gates, which open at 5 p.m. A portion of the donation will benefit the Elijah Kelley Foundation, which recently awarded its first scholarship to a Troup High graduate and aims to expand the scholarships to include all local high schools.