Los Angeles, Jul 9 (IANS): Actress Elle Fanning has revealed that she lost a role as a 16-year-old because she "wasn’t sexy enough".

According to Deadline, Fanning, 25, the younger sister of actress Dakota, told The Times newspaper that when she was 16 years old, she auditioned for a role in a comedy movie about a father and daughter going on a road trip.

The star of the comedy drama series ‘The Great’ said that she was told she had been rejected for the role “because she wasn’t sexy enough” – “unf***able” was the verdict she was given.

She revealed that, a year later, she lost another film role on the grounds that she didn’t have enough followers on Instagram.

The ‘Maleficient’ star has recently enjoyed huge success with her role of Catherine in 'The Great’. Both she and co-star Nicholas Hoult have been Emmy-nominated for their performances in the irreverent period drama, detailing the marriage between Catherine the Great and Tsar Peter III of Russia.

Fanning said she feels more "confident" since taking on the sexually-charged role of Catherine the Great.

The actress shot to fame as a child alongside her sister Dakota Fanning with roles in 'I Am Sam' and 'Daddy Day Care'.

Fanning has also formed a production company with her sister Dakota, and produced and starred in Girl from Plainville, playing Michelle Carter, a woman who taunted her boyfriend Conrad Roy into killing himself in 2014.