The Daily Telegraph - Anna Friel, the former Brookside star, has spoken of the strains of balancing her acting career with motherhood, saying she was once so tired she feared she would faint on set.

The actress, who has a three-year-old daughter, Gracie, has moved to Hollywood after a period of travelling between London and Los Angeles.

Miss Friel, 32, who is starring in a new film, Land Of The Lost, said of life as a young mother: “I’d be a liar if I said it was easy.”

The actress carried on working after the birth of Gracie, whom she had with David Thewlis, 46, who plays Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter films.

Miss Friel told Closer magazine: “I think it’s very different nowadays for working mothers. Before, a woman could take two years off - a year for her pregnancy and then the first year, but I don’t think that’s possible for women in showbusiness or in any industry any more.

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Gossip Girls have posted photos of Keira Knightley on the set of London Boulevard, so I guess we can say shooting has started! The photos were taken in London on June 18th. No pics of Anna or any of the other cast members yet, but I will be keeping a look out for anything that pops up, so stay tuned …

Anna Friel has told how she met up with a prostitute while researching her new role for drama The Street.

The actress, 32, who has a three-year-old daughter named Gracie, said the show demonstrated “what a woman will do to protect her children”.

The stellar cast for the third BBC1 series also includes Bob Hoskins, Gavin and Stacey’s Ruth Jones and Timothy Spall.

The award-winning show, written by Jimmy McGovern - whose credits also include Brookside, The Lakes and Cracker - focuses on the lives of different residents who live in the same street in the north west of England.

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Actress Anna Friel has added her name to the list of actresses competing to portray Wonder Woman on the big screen.

A host of A-list ladies have been tipped to take over from 1970s TV’s Wonder Woman Lynda Carter in Joss Whedon’s big screen remake, including Megan Fox, Eliza Dushku and even Beyonce Knowles.

However, Friel wants to make sure that she is considered too.

The ‘Land of The Lost’ star told People magazine that she has been a fan since she was a child: “Everyone wanted to be Wonder Woman. I had Wonder Woman pyjamas.”

But Dushku remains the favorite for the role, after Carter endorsed her: “Eliza would make a great Wonder Woman.”

British actress ANNA FRIEL has let fans in on her cheeky secret to staying serious on camera with funnyman WILL FERRELL - she flexes her pelvic floor muscles.

Friel was in constant fits of laughter while filming their upcoming movie Land of the Lost thanks to the comedian’s crazy antics.

And she credits a hidden womanly strength with helping her get through their gut-busting scenes.

She says, “There are tricks. The first one is I bite the inside of my cheeks and suck in like Posh Spice (Victoria Beckham), or I pull in certain female buttons. That seems to do the trick. If you keep pulling them in and pulling them in you can’t laugh.”

And the actress has become so devoted to her new exercise, she’s found yet another benefit - the routine also helps her save on trips to the bathroom.

She explains, “You have to stop the same stream from your peeing. That’s your same muscle.”

Anna Friel has blamed the writers’ strike for the demise of her hit show Pushing Daisies.

The British actress — who was making a name for herself on the US small screen as resurrected Chuck — says if it weren’t for the industrial action her show would still be going strong and she would be riding high on a wave of fame.

“I think the writers’ strike had a lot to do with a lot of shows,” Anna says. “But Pushing Daisies was not your average show and it was just starting to pick up momentum. And then to take something off the air for a year and to have to re-find those viewers, was hard.”

Friel recently revealed how she turned down offers for three pilot shows in the States, as she didn’t want to get herself into another long term contract so soon after Daisies.

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As you can see, after a little while, we have a new theme, done by Flor. Let me know what do you think.

Also, don’t forget, Anna will be tonight at The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien!

British actress Anna Friel has admitted that she was scared of sharing scenes with Will Ferrell in ‘Land of the Lost’ because she was worried about his strong improvisational skills.

She said: “I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t totally intimidated. You know, I’m awestruck just to watch people do it, live, the acting.

“Things like what makes the cut, and coming up with 10 different responses, or skits in certain scenes. If the scene wasn’t working, how do you - it’s kind of an ongoing process. If you had ideas, you could just throw them in.

Despite her intimidation, Anna admits it was “very easy” to fall in love with her co-star.

“My character has this kind of inexplicable crush on Marshall,” she said. “And it’s very easy to fall in love with Will, because he’s such a nice, lovely, warm guy.

“And I just - as an actress, just made myself - well, just think all his wild wit and stupidity is just masked eccentricities as a wonderful scientist.”