If Jodie Foster had her way, her career might have developed very differently from the path we’ve associated with her.

Foster, 63, has spent six decades in front of the camera in one form or another, a career she says was not her choice.

“I would never have chosen to be an actor. I don’t have the personality of an actor,” Foster said in an article published by Variety on Sunday during the actor’s appearance at the Marrakesh Film Festival on Sunday. “I’m not someone who wants to dance on a table and, you know, sing songs for people.”

The Oscar-winning star went on to describe how she approaches casting roles and offered a candid look at what it’s like to work in Hollywood.

Child actress Jodie Foster in 1976.
Child actress Jodie Foster in 1976.

Michael Ochs Archives via Getty Images

“Actually, it’s just a cruel job that was chosen for me when I was young and that I don’t remember starting,” he revealed. “So that makes my job a little different because I’m not interested in acting just for the sake of acting. If I was on a desert island, I think probably the last thing I would do is act. So I was just trying to survive.”

Foster also emphasized the importance of mentorship in the industry and why she feels compelled to support younger artists navigating the same terrain she once did.

“I feel like, wait, where are their parents? And why doesn’t anyone tell them that they should stop making so many movies or maybe not be so drunk on the red carpet? I want to take care of them because I know how dangerous it is,” Foster said.

Jodie Foster in the
Jodie Foster at the “Conversation with Jodie Foster” during day 3 of the 22nd Marrakech International Film Festival on Sunday in Marrakech, Morocco.

Stéphane Cardinale-Corbis via Getty Images

While at the same festival, Foster reflected on her early years in the business and how she was an actress before her “memory really begins.”

“You get very used to the idea of ​​seeing yourself from the inside and the outside simultaneously,” Foster said. “I feel blessed by that, because I feel like I eliminated some of the shyness that a lot of actors have to struggle with a lot in their lives.”

He added that being an actor is a “strange way to be in the world.”

“I don’t know if it has made me crazier or if it has made me [more sane]. I’m not sure. It is one of the two,” he continued.