Audrey Tautou wanted to study monkeys.

The 'Coco Before Chanel' star admits acting was never her ambition until she reached her late teens and started to enjoy socialising.

She said: "I didn't plan to become an actress. I had no clue fame would land on me. As a child, I wanted to study monkeys but I changed my mind with the onset of hormones and suddenly I was a teenager and I found partying more interesting than nature and got into art and theatre and movies."

Audrey mainly works in her native France because she prefers the anonymity it gives her compared with life in America.

She explained to Britain's Independent newspaper: "I like working once in a while in Hollywood because it's like a holiday but I am happy in France doing what I do.

"I am happy with my life, I have enough money, I like to be myself. I like to dance when I am drunk and have a good time. I don't go out much. I stay with my friends. This is what I like."