Almost not famous 'I BECAME AN ACTRESS BY ACCIDENT!'

Getting her hands on an Oscar changed Anna's life forever

Back in 1994, a B cute-as-a-button 11-year-old stood on the podium at the Academy Awards, gasping with shock and delight.

For a few heart-stopping moments, she was so overcome with the announcement she'd won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress that it seemed her words would never come.

Then, suddenly, she gathered herself and delivered a short, but perfectly-formed acceptance speech.

That little girl, of course, was Kiwi actress Anna Paquin.

Since then, Anna has gone on to carve out a successful career in Hollywood, appearing in blockbuster movies like X-Men and much-loved classics like Almost Famous. And this month, that little girl in the sparkly blue hat, who for a moment was lost for words, turns 40.

Now living in Los Angeles, married and a mum-of-two, Anna can't help but look back on the events that set her on her current path with a certain amount of head-shaking.

"It's pretty random," she says of her Oscar win for her role as the precocious Flora in Dame Jane Campion's acclaimed film The Piano.

It happened, she says, "before I really had any idea what the significance was. Now, it's just, 'Okay, that's kind of a funny story. That time I accidentally became an actress and they gave me that nice, gold, shiny statue for my first job!'"