has revealed that she wanted to play ’s role in Notting Hill, but at the time, believed that she wasn’t talented enough.

The Big Little Lies star, 53, could have been in the running to play Hollywood star Anna Scott alongside lead male Hugh Grant, but backed out of auditioning due to self-sabotage.

At the time, in 1999, Nicole told herself that she wasn’t well known enough to bag such an epic lead role in the box-office hit.

Lifting the lid on her missed opportunities in conversation with Hugh Grant for Marie Claire, the Australian actress admitted: “I really wanted the role that Julia Roberts played in Notting Hill.

“But I wasn’t well known enough, and I wasn’t talented enough.”

Ironically Julia, 52, wasn’t initially too keen on the role of actress Anna Scott - who was Hugh's love interest in the classic rom-com.

During a candid chat with Vanity Fair, she previously revealed what she had told her agent about the part: "How boring. How tedious — what a stupid thing for me to do."

Despite her early feelings on the flick, Julia soon came around the idea and later left a message on director Richard Curtis’s answer machine.

The stunning star told him: "I’m going to do this movie."

While she lost out to Julia in Notting Hill, it wasn’t the only British flick that Nicole passed up.

Four years later, Nicole could have also bagged herself a starring role in Christmas classic Love Actually.

Speaking of the 2003 movie, she revealed: “I think there was something where I think I really wanted a role - maybe I was gonna do a small role in Love, Actually at one point.

“I can’t remember. It was not a big role.”

Released in May 1999, Notting Hill was well received by critics and became the highest-grossing British film of all time.

The film won a BAFTA, was nominated in two other categories, and won other awards, including a British Comedy Award and a Brit Award for the soundtrack.

If that wasn’t enough, Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant became household names after their iconic performances.