Michael Sheen was rejected for movies

Michael Sheen used to be rejected for movie roles because he wasn't a big enough name, even though he was the best actor for the roles.

Michael Sheen used to be rejected for movie roles because he wasn't a big enough name.

The British actor says he went for audition after audition when he first moved to Los Angeles but would regularly be turned down because bosses wanted someone who would attract big audiences.

He said: "I was going up for films, it was just audition after audition, and people would say, 'Well, you're the best actor we've seen, you're perfect for this part - but the studio needs a bigger actor, they need a bigger name.' So there was a lot of that for a period of time."

Michael - who has a 12-year-old daughter, Lily, with ex-girlfriend Kate Beckinsale - also revealed how big acting roles only started coming in when he decided to stop worrying about it.

He said: "It was always sort of a weird combination where Kate sort of felt - she'd never gone to drama school, so she felt like I was doing very worthy work, and she felt unworthy at times - which was never true. But on the other hand I felt like, 'Oh I wish I was having more success in film.' So that was quite frustrating. And actually it was only once I said right, that's it, I'm going to forget about a film career and just do what I do, then almost immediately it happened."