Julia Louis-Dreyfus doesn't believe stardom is a "worthy pursuit"

Asked if she wants to be a "huge movie star", she told The Guardian newspaper in an interview conducted before the current actors strike: "Well, I don't know what it means to be a huge movie star.

"Stardom - that's like air. In my view, that's not a worthy pursuit.

"But I'm trying to find more material that's fresh, and material that I would like to see myself. It's like this movie: if I weren't in it, I would go opening weekend to see it, because it's the kind of film that I enjoy watching."

She jokingly added: "And then I'd have a complete s*** fit that I wasn't in it!"

The 62-year-old star feels "about 30 in terms of energy and ambition" and admitted she gets a shock when she sees old footage of herself, though she is "delighted" to be the age that she is.

She said: "I recognise that I've gotten older and it is a very strange thing.

"There are moments where, if a video comes up of me 30 years ago, I'm like: holy c***, I really have gotten older.

"But I still feel physically that I am the same person, except I have more experience now. So I don't think of ageing as a negative - I'm actually delighted to be the age I am. I know so much more now than I did 30 years ago. There's something freeing about it."

The former 'Veep' actress - who has sons Henry and Charlie with husband Brad Hall - believes ageism is still a problem in the US.

She said: "I hope the tides are turning. I'm not sure that's completely the case.

"In American culture, I do believe that older women are less visible; people aren't inclined to listen to them in the way that they're inclined to listen to older men - certainly older white men."