Tilda Swinton insists she has always been comfortable with her androgynous appearance and was happy to be a "strange" adolescent.

The 'Burn After Reading' actress said: "When I was nine or 10 I wasn't pretty anymore - which is a big advantage. It must be a nightmare to be a beautiful teenager.

"I got this strange kind of androgyny. I was everything girls don't want to be - incredibly tall, incredibly thin, unimpressive. For years it's still been possible to hide as a sexual being."

The 48-year-old 'Chronicles of Narnia' star admits she also felt her teenage years were lacking because she was isolated away from other popular pastimes due to attending a strict boarding school.

She added: "I was at boarding school which was very strict, no make-up, no boys, no parties, no pop music. That was quite terrible because I had no access to pop culture at all. I get still angry when I think of it.

"Being kept away from pop music as a teenager is to be kept away from your generation and even be kept away in some way from sex. As a teenager it is very important to be linked with the sexual impulses of popular music. Somehow I managed to get through this school and got a different kind of identity."