Jodie Foster turned down chance to play Princess Leia in Star Wars

Jodie Foster turned down the chance to play Princess Leia in 'Star Wars'.

The 61-year-old actress was in her early teens when she was approached about the opportunity to play the iconic character in George Lucas' 1977 classic 'Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope' but she was unable to sign up due to a scheduling conflict and the part eventually went to Carrie Fisher, who was 19 years old when she played Princess Leia.

Jodie opened up about the missed opportunity during an appearance on 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon' after the host asked her: "You’ve been in so many iconic roles, and we love what you do.

"But I saw this on the Internet - you were offered the role of Princess Leia in 'Star Wars', is that true?"

Jodie then replied: "I was, yeah. They were going for a younger Princess Leia but I had a conflict. I was doing a Disney movie and I just didn’t want to pull out of the Disney movie because I was already under contract.”

The actress added: "They did an amazing job. I don’t know how good I would have been. I might have had different hair. I might have gone with a pineapple."

Jodie shot to fame as a child star with notable roles including playing a young prostitute in 1976's 'Taxi Driver' and she recently admitted becoming famous at a young age totally changed her life.

She told the Guardian newspaper: "There is a meta-weirdness to having been a public figure from the time you were young, right? Especially if you have stayed being an actor."

Jodie went on to insist she learned some "hard lessons" from her early experiences of fame.

She explained: "Being a public figure, your universe is altered and you just don’t know anything else. And you don’t know that you’re a blowhard, and that you’re not a good friend, and that you never show up, because people indulge you.

"So there are hard lessons you have to learn. There’s something Hugh Grant said, which I thought was right on: that the fame thing at a young age is like being shot up with steroids and you live with those big muscles your whole life, and then, one day, you make the decision that there are no more steroids.

"And you don’t recognise yourself and have no idea who you are. And you have to rebuild an entire identity. "That can be difficult, and that’s something I had to learn late."