Phoebe Waller-Bridge "desperately" wanted to be a boy when she was younger.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Phoebe Waller-Bridge

The 33-year-old writer-and-actress shaved off her hair, wore male clothing and demanded her parents call her 'Alex' when she was six and admitted she would have "jumped" at the chance to undergo gender reassignment if it had been commonplace when she was a child.

Asked if she thought she would be considered trans today, she said: "I mean there's the tomboy kind of thing... I was fervent about it when I was younger.

"I just desperately wanted to be a boy more than anything else. If it had been taken seriously by my school or those options had been given to me, I probably would've jumped at it."

However, when the 'Killing Eve' creator went to boarding school at the age of 11, she began asking people to call her Phoebe again, particularly when she realised a boy she was interested in "probably didn't like" her appearance.

She told America's NPR radio: "I went to a boarding school for a year and a half, two years.

"I wasn't thinking about either being a boy or being a girl. But then I discovered boys in a big way.

"And one in particular -- I remember meeting a boy and then suddenly becoming really aware that I looked sort of boyish myself and that he probably didn't like that. And that was the kind of crossover point."

But Phoebe also admitted she still has "the same impulse" to be a boy "all the time".

She added: "I still feel more comfortable in a hoodie and jeans than I ever do in little kitten heels and a flowy skirt."