Jude Law was disappointed to still be recognised in public despite growing a beard.

The British actor has grown facial hair for a number of roles. He had hoped the change in his appearance would give him some anonymity but he soon realised this wasn't the case.

"I thought it would be a disguise but it wasn't at all. Which baffles me because I'm not someone you would think of as having one," he told the latest issue of UK magazine GQ. "I've reached a point now where I've had it for so long I'm kind of intrigued about shaving it off."

The 39-year-old star admits grooming facial hair can be time consuming. He wouldn't ever choose to sport a beard or moustache unless it was required for the movie characters he plays.

"I had a moustache for months on end for Sherlock Holmes and I got really sick and tired of the Tache'," he added. "It's funny because it's synonymous with Watson; outside of the films it comes off. I've also had a big beard: I was playing a sailor [in theatre play Anna Christie] and I've been in 19th-century Russia for Anna Karenina, so my beard has no trendy roots, it's historical."