Gemma Arterton was spoken to "like an idiot" during her time in Hollywood.

Gemma Arterton

Gemma Arterton

The 31-year-old actress has starred in a string of big-budget movies, like the James Bond film 'Quantum of Solace' - but she admits to feeling uncomfortable in that environment, preferring to appear in less commercially-minded movies instead.

She explained: "A couple of times I was spoken to as if I had a tiny IQ. Or just how you might speak to someone who - if you were a bad person - you thought was stupid. I chose to do those films, so I take the responsibility. But it didn't sit well with me."

Gemma vividly recalls being on the set of one film "thinking this is s**t, this is not why I wanted to be an actor".

But Gemma, who hails from a working-class background, admits to having had a chip on her shoulder as a young actress, which led her to make some regrettable career choices.

She told the Spectator magazine: "I had a big chip on my shoulder and I have only just gotten over this chip."

Asked what her particular "chip" was, Gemma explained: "I'm common so I'm not as worthy as the others here. Because I haven't read all the books."

Earlier this month, Gemma admitted she took certain acting jobs in the early stages of her career simply because she "thought it was the right" thing to do.

She said: "Coming from a working-class background - we were poor - then going to a drama school where they tell you, and rightly so, that you're probably not going to work most of the time, and suddenly being given all these opportunities when I left...

"For the first seven or eight years of my career, I was doing stuff because I thought I should, or I thought I was lucky to get that part. And I am grateful - it set me up. But it sits really badly with me when I make something I'm not proud of, or doesn't say what I want to say."


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