LONDON: Actress Emmanuelle Beart accepts she missed out on becoming a big Hollywood star by turning down a series of big-money movies after mission: impossible.

The French star perfected her English for the Tom Cruise action film and was excited to land a role in the 1996 blockbuster, but she was overwhelmed by the amount of press she was subsequently forced to do to promote the movie.

The media attention she received prompted her to return to her native France - but she now wonders about the parts she could have landed had she ridden the wave of success.

She says, "Mission: Impossible opened a lot of doors, but I ran away from it. I was young. I wasn't ready. I had just had a baby and even though I liked the director, and Tom (Cruise) was very professional, I couldn't bear it.

"All the press junkets and the interviews... I came home to Paris and I never really wanted to go back. In a way (I regret that)."