Helen Mirren has admitted that working as a waitress as a teenager helped her with her new movie Brighton Rock.
The British actress takes on the role of Ida in the Rowan Joffe directed movie, which also stars Sam Riley, and she reveals that she was able to draw on her experiences.
Speaking to the Press Association the Oscar winning actress said:"I worked in a small hotel, my aunt's hotel in Brighton. I knew this world very well.
"I was there in Brighton, not at the time of the mods and rockers, but around that time, so it was a world that I knew very well."
2010 was a great year for the actress as she found success with The Last Station, Red and Legend of the Guardians, to which she lent her voice.
And that success looks set to continue as she takes on the role of Prospera, changed from Prospero, in The Tempest.
She has also completed work on The Door and Arthur and a second Red movie is believes to be in the pipeline.
Brighton Rock is out now.
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