Kate Winslet is reluctant to encourage her kids to take up acting – because she has seen first hand how painful and cruel a career it can be.

While Winslet herself has enjoyed a successful career, her thespian father and actress sisters have had to suffer the trials of being an out-of-work actor.

And, although she insists daughter Mia would make a great actress, Winslet doesn’t want to push the six-year-old or three-year-old Joe into such a difficult life.

The 31-year-old says, “Mia was a very flamboyant and expressive kid, but now she has calmed down a little.

“There was a moment where I thought, ‘Oh, my God, she could really end up doing this for a living!’ and I wasn’t sure how I felt about this. I know from my parents, when I said that was what I wanted to do, it was a big deal.

“My father was a struggling actor for most of his life; both my sisters act and they are not struggling at the moment, but it can be a very hard life.

“When a parent has experienced heartache and struggle from the thing they love most and which they do for a living, of course, it makes sense that they’d be concerned about their child going in for it.”