Carey Mulligan began her acting career by crying when she didn't get a role in a school production.

The Oscar-nominated actress was so jealous of her older brother Owen's part in a version of 'The King and I' she burst into tears and didn't stop until the director allowed her to have a role.

She said: "It makes me sound like such a precocious child actress, but I burst into tears because I wasn't in it. I wouldn't stop crying and the director said, 'It's OK, you can be one of the kids too'. And that was it. I loved it."

However, it is something her parents have always have always had reservations about, something the 25-year-old beauty - who broke up with fellow star Shia LaBeouf last year - is now pleased with because it made her question her motives.

She told The Scotsman newspaper: "My parents were nervous about my being an actor because they worried that I wouldn't have a very stable life and actually, in retrospect, I'm pleased that they did have a problem with it initially because it made me think about it and realise that it wasn't a passing fad.

"But I was ridiculously lucky."