Sigourney Weaver has revealed she had to be pushed into her acting career.

She explained recently: “I was very shy, very self-conscious. I didn’t even decide to be an actress until my friends kept hiring me in New York. I kind of backed into it.”

She added that her early shyness is not exceptional in Hollywood: “It’s funny how many late-bloomers there are in our business.

“Whether through shyness or what have you, we hold back and then suddenly - boom!”