Freida Pinto: 'I'm constantly worried about what film I'm going to do next'

Pinto says: 'I'm not completely taken seriously as an actress in my homeland, India' (Getty Images)

I wanted to be an actress from the age of five I wanted to be a part of every play that was put on in school. And for the longest time, I thought I was a great Michael Jackson impersonator. But that was all just in my head!

My career has been going at lightning speed – and keeping up has been difficult It gets very tiring at times. There are moments when you think, "I just want to stop this." But the very next second you think about how much you love doing what you do, so you want to keep going.

I'm not completely taken seriously as an actress in my homeland, India But at the same time I feel there is a group of people there who do appreciate what I'm doing, and I do get a lot of support. It's an amazing country, which you just have to enjoy.

I'm constantly worried about work I could lie and say "Yeah, I'm very calm about these things." But, no, I'm constantly worried. I want to know what I'm going to be doing next. I think I'll get a job, but I'm worried that it will be the same old thing again.

I do not know how to travel light I always think, "What if it gets cold? Put 10 jackets in? What if it's not that cold?" So I pack a lot. I don't pack food – but I understand people who do; they miss their home-cooked foods! I just end up carrying a lot of clothes and shoes.

I don't think Dev [Patel, her boyfriend] and I are looking to do another film together The only reason is there are such high expectations attached to the chemistry that we built in Slumdog Millionaire and it's hard to live up to that, so we don't want to run that risk. If we did do anything, the film would have to be the opposite of what we did in Slumdog. We'd have to be enemies!

Living a relationship in the public eye has been very new And invasive at times when it was not required. But at the same time there's not much I can do about it. I'm not the chosen one. Everybody goes through it if they're in the public eye. So I just learnt that the best way to deal with it is to know when to build walls and shut them out.

I was constantly drawing parallels between my new film 'Trishna' and its inspiration Tess of the D'Urbervilles. But I had to stop doing that, because, culturally, they're about two different countries. Trishna is set in modern-day India. So I had to learn about a character who was Tess, but in a completely different environment.

Making 'Trishna' taught me a lot about my own country I was born and brought up in Mumbai. But we filmed in Rajasthan. I had been there on a tourist visit, but hadn't really understood its culture and traditions. So I arrived there before we started filming. I did a lot of prep, even living with a local family.

Freida Pinto, 27, is an Indian-born actress. She was nominated for a Bafta for her breakthrough in 'Slumdog Millionaire' (2008). 'Trishna' (15) is out now