Olivia Munn was told becoming an actress was a ''silly dream''.

The 'Iron Man 2' star has confessed that she didn't make the move to Hollywood to pursue a career in acting until she was 23-years-old because her family never supported her aspirations.

She said: ''I grew up with a lot of, 'You're not good enough, you're not smart enough, that's a silly dream, that's a stupid dream', so I learned at a young age to keep my dream inside.''

The 33-year-old actress admits she was worried about disappointing her mother so instead decided to study for a degree in journalism, but after working as a reporter for a year and feeling as though she was at a ''dead end'' she decided to broach the subject of acting one more time.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about her change of heart, she explained: ''The fear is that if I go there [Hollywood] and try, and I don't make it, then I know that I tried and couldn't do it.

''I said that to my mom, and she goes, 'Well, you can always come back and answer doctor phones'. So if my mom's not going to be disappointed in me, then why not?''

Despite making the decision to follow her dreams, Munn insists you have to be prepared to fail if you want to be an actor.

She added: ''Just because you want it, just because you have a dream, just because you work really hard, it doesn't mean that it works out, so you just have to work as hard as you can, keep your head down, say thank you as much as possible.''