Cate Blanchett was too "weird-looking" to get cast when she began her career

She told Britain's HELLO! magazine: "When I first came out of drama school, I didn't work like a lot of my counterparts.

"But someone who ran one of the biggest casting agencies took a shine to me and asked me to come in and be a reader opposite people who were auditioning.

"I couldn't get arrested as an actor. And I was weird-looking, no one knew what to do with me.

"So, I would go in three or four times a week and spend three or four hours reading."

The 'Rumours' actress loves working with directors who push her out of her comfort zone.

She said: "I'm always grateful to directors who offer you something that takes you by surprise, that perhaps they see in you that you can't see in yourself and therefore those stretches happen.

"I think he last huge one for me was working with Todd Field on 'Tar'.

"It felt like a mountain that I couldn't even begin to know how to climb and I was absolutely terrified by it.

"But I've learnt from many, many years in the theatre how to flip fear into excitement."

Despite her glittering screen career, the 55-year-old star's first love, theatre, will always be her biggest passion.

She said: "I started off in the theatre and it's still my singular great love because you're so connected to your audience.

"You do often get separated from your audience when you work in cinema."

And Cate would rather go for an "interesting" role than a big one.

She said: "You have to work out, 'How much do I want this job?' Because not every job is worth taking.

"I would take jobs that other people couldn't see an opportunity in, with the character dying on page nine.

"They were saying, 'Don't you want the bigger part?' And I'm like, 'No, no, no. That's the interesting role.'"