Actress Emmy Rossum gets upset when fans of her hit U.S. Tv show Shameless thinks she's really as wild and sexually-active as her character in the series - because in real-life, the star is nothing like the loose girl she plays.

The Phantom of the Opera star admits her feelings often got hurt when people think they're talking to Fiona and not the real Emmy.

She explains, "People think that I am a much more sexual person than I am because they identify me with the character. People on the street are more crude with me because they think I'm Fiona... I'm not like her in my real life. I've never had a one-night stand. Ever.

"We were talking about this on set the other day. Seventy per cent of the girls that I polled on our set have had a one-night stand. I've never had one."

Rossum admits she wrestles with the nudity and sex scenes in the show, but insists they're central to her character, telling Complex magazine, "It feels natural because I'm Fiona, not Emmy. There's a distinction for me... Sex is taboo in our culture, but if you ignore it as part of the human experience and shy away from it because you're scared to show it as an actor you're limiting yourself.

"Of course guys that I've dated have said, 'You know that people are going to jerk off (masturbate) to that scene, right?'"