Angela Griffin felt snubbed by the acting industry after taking on TV presenting roles.
The former ‘Coronation Street’ star has previously hosted on the red carpet at high-profile award ceremonies and fronted programmes such as her own talk show ‘Angela and Friends’, but she was left "terrified" by the impact such roles had on her acting career.
She told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "I did ‘Angela and Friends’, I did ‘Emergency with Angela Griffin’, I presented on the red carpet at the Oscars and the Golden Globes.
"I did not think it would have an impact on my career as I thought, ‘Why? What difference does it make?’
"But it did make a difference and I was out of work for 15 months. I was petrified and terrified."
The 44-year-old star admitted she decided to be more "choosy" about the projects she took on to halt any confusion about her actual job.
She explained: "I did not do any presenting for a while. My agent says it didn’t have any impact but I think it did.
"I think sometimes you can diversify too much. It is so competitive out there now.
"You have to try to concentrate on what you want to do because there are so many people out there who say, ‘Is she a presenter? Is she an actor?’ "
And the ‘White Lines’ actress – who spent six years on ‘Corrie’ as hairdresser Fiona Middleton from 1992 to 1996 – also admitted it can be tough for northern actors because so many auditions take place in London.
She added: "Mainly because so much stuff happens in London so if you are up north and you get a recall for an audition, just the train fare alone to come down and audition is a massive amount of money.
"When I first started, I had a recall and my mum didn’t have any money. It was basically, ‘You can’t go as we don’t have a penny to send you’.
"My brother had just got paid and gave me the money, and I got it, but the fact I could have missed out because I did not have the pennies worries me."