The Matrix actress Carrie-Anne Moss has described how she was offered the role of a grandmother once she turned 40.
Entertainment trade publication The Hollywood Reporter says the Canadian star made her comments at an event to mark the publication of her friend Justine Bateman's book, Face: One Square Foot of Skin
"I had heard that at 40 everything changed," she said. "I didn't believe in that because I don't believe in just jumping on a thought system that I don't really align with.
"Literally, the day after my 40th birthday, I was reading a script that had come to me and I was talking to my manager about it.
"She was like, 'Oh, no, no, no, it's not that role [you're reading for], it's the grandmother'. I may be exaggerating a bit, but it happened overnight. I went from being a girl to the mother to beyond the mother."
Moss also noted the dramatic difference in how male actors are treated as they age. She said she didn't want to have to change herself for the industry, although it was "kind of brutal" witnessing the transition in her career.
"You don't feel like you've aged much and suddenly you're seeing yourself onscreen," she continued. "I would look at these French and European actresses and they just had something about them that felt so confident in their own skin. I couldn't wait to be that. I strive for that. It's not easy being in this business. There's a lot of external pressure."
Moss, 53, returns to her universe-saving role as Trinity in The Matrix 4. It is due out in December 2021.
