Los Angeles, Oct 5 (IANS): Actor Guy Pearce shot to fame on the Australian soap 'Neighbours' and after making the switch to Hollywood, he struggled to cope with his own fame and success.

He shared: "I went to America still carrying this baggage of not believing in myself or the value of my work, so I was extremely picky. I had people around me saying I should do a superhero film, but I was only interested in films that felt heavy and psychological."

Pearce added: "I'd done five films back-to-back and was pretty spent, turning up to work every morning and growling at people. I was battling with myself all the time over whether it's just ridiculous and childish, faking stuff for a living."

The actor, whose film credits include 'L.A. Confidential', 'The Hurt Locker' and 'The King's Speech', decided to take some time off because he was beginning to feel overwhelmed by the stresses of the industry, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

He told The Independent: "I was about ready to kill somebody, to be honest, so I took 18 months off, had a big old think about it and a bit of a lie-down and came back thinking actually, this is something that will keep me young. It's a wonderful, youthful perspective on life. It was the decision of a 30-something man, not an eight-year-old boy."

Pearce played the part of Mike Young on 'Neighbours' in the 1980s and he struggled to "make sense" of his own fame at the time.

He said: "I hated the fame thing, really struggled with it. I knew 'Neighbours' wasn't Shakespeare, but I was doing my best while knowing that I wasn't doing a great job - and yet, screaming girls chased us down the street. Trying to make sense of that was quite a test."