Dolph Lundgren believes he has "hurt" his career by "selling out".

The action legend admits he has occasionally signed up for movies based just for the money on offer, and admits it becomes a problem if the end result is poor.

He said: "On some movies I kind of sold out, got paid a lot and worked for two weeks without really caring about the project.

"If the movie's bad and you're good, it doesn't hurt you. But if you're bad, it hurts you. If you're going to sell out, you might as well do your homework. That's important."

Although he isn't proud of some of his films, Lundgren - who this year starred in 'The Expendables' alongside Sylvester Stallone, Jet Li, and Bruce Willis, among a host of other big screen tough guys - is still pleased he appeared in the flops because he has very rarely been out of work.

The 53-year-old actor - who appeared in a number of straight to DVD films in the early part of the decade, including 'Hidden Agenda', 'Agent Red' and 'Retrograde' - explained: "I suppose I'm successful even when I do bad movies because I keep working.

"I've learned that hard work pays off. There's no shortcut, unfortunately. I've always been a hard worker. I'm not always 100 per cent focused, but I'm always working."

Lundgren's breakthrough came when he starred in 'Rocky IV' in 1985 as Russian boxer Ivan Drago who fought Stallone's fictional pugilist ROCKY BALBOA.