Claire Foy has likened starring in The Crown to being in a "blockbuster film".

The 41-year-old actress portrayed Queen Elizabeth II in the first two seasons of the Netflix royal drama and says that the attention that came with the role was transformative for her career.

Claire told the Radio Times magazine: "I'd been working for almost 10 years when I made it, but nobody knew who I was. It was like being in a blockbuster film.

"Afterwards, I got opportunities I'd never had before. It's like the biggest promotion you can imagine."

The H Is for Hawk star admits that she doesn't worry about being defined by The Crown.

She said: "I don't think it's a double-edged sword. I doubt Olivia Newton-John hated being known for Grease - I bet she loved it! If I had just done The Crown and never worked again, that would be one thing. But I don't feel any pressure to be anything for anyone else, really. I'm just doing my job."

Foy also played Tudor Queen Anne Boleyn in the TV drama Wolf Hall but insists that she hasn't been typecast as a posh English woman.

She said: "There aren't that many queens and I did two of them! I think any more would be weird.

"You get offered what people think you're capable of. The goal as you get older is for that to be broader, not narrower."

Claire's latest movie H Is for Hawk sees her play Helen Macdonald - a woman who finds solace in caring for a Goshawk bird after the death of her father - and the star confessed that she was "nervous" about handling the creatures.

She said: "I was nervous! Goshawks are the most difficult birds to handle. Our bird trainers Rose and Lloyd Buck said, 'Claire will get footed', which is basically when the bird claws you, 'because a goshawk has never not footed a falconer.'

"And our director (Philippa Lowthorpe) had to say, 'No, she won't!', because otherwise we wouldn't get insured."

Foy added: "I did get footed, but only in the last shot of the whole thing. We used five birds and it was by Jess, the least likely one. It was her little 'see you later'."