(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Jodie Foster wouldn't have become an actress if she had the knowledge she does today when she was starting out.

The Hollywood star began her career young, appearing as a prostitute in Taxi Driver when she was only 14. She continued making movies but also wanted to learn, so began studying at Yale University. However, her chances of a normal life were ruined when a man who had been stalking her tried to assassinate then US President Ronald Reagan, saying he wanted to impress the star. She was also stalked by another man and both experiences have left an indelible mark on the star. She is fiercely protective of her private life and doesn't discuss the incidents.

Jodie still enjoys moviemaking, but her horrific experiences mean she struggles with the fame aspect of the business.

"If I knew what I knew today, and if I was 17 years old and wanting to have a career, I don't know that I would pick acting. It's not about the acting; I could act all day long. It's the rest of it," she told British newspaper The Independent.

"I don't think I would change anything if I went back to the 60s and 70s. I mean, how amazing I made movies with fantastic people in the 70s and all the amazing experiences and the people that I met and the great places that I've been, I don't think I would change any of that."

The 48-year-old wishes she could have spent more time studying. She feels she missed out on a lot in her younger years due to her work schedule, and it's that portion of time she would love to recapture.

"Sometimes I wish I'd gone to grad school. I wish I could have fitted that in or maybe had a little time in film school. I think that it would have been fun to run around New York City with a camera I never had that. I always had responsibility," she explained.

Jodie directs as well as acts and realises her movies tend to share themes. She knows she often depicts the media in a certain way when she's behind the camera, and is perfectly aware why that is.

Her time as a child and young woman and the things she went through had an enormous effect on her, and continually come to the fore when she's planning a picture.

"There's a theme in my movies, it happens over and over again and I don't know why I'm attracted to this but the characters expose themselves publicly and they're used in some ways by the media as a train-wreck. And in some ways they are exposing themselves in the deepest way, they're exposing their most vulnerable things," she mused. "It's a comment on how I grew up." (C) Cover Media