Sharon Rooney was surprised Greta Gerwig wanted her for Barbie

Sharon Rooney thought her agent was joking when she told her Greta Gerwig wanted her for 'Barbie'.

The 'My Mad Fat Diary' star, 35, was obsessed with the Mattel doll growing up, noting "I had Barbie everything", and landed a small role as Lawyer Barbie alongside Margot Robbie (Barbie) and Ryan Gosling (Ken) in director's 2023 blockbuster.

But when she heard the 'Lady Bird' filmmaker wanted her to appear in her film, she didn't quite believe it and had to double check her agent wasn't playing a prank.

She told The i newspaper: “My agent said: ‘I was just phoning to see if you fancied making a film with Greta Gerwig?’. I was like: ‘Shut up. What did you actually phone me for?’

“You don’t think something like that is going to happen on a random midweek evening."

Sharon - who shot to fame playing Rae, who suffers with mental health and body image issues, in hit teen comedy-drama 'My Mad Fat Diary' in 2013 - usually likes to play women who are flawed in some way.

She noted: “I mean, it’s Barbie, Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie. If there’s going to be an exception to a rule, I think it’s that, isn’t it?”

The programme also starred Jodie Comer as Rae's popular friend Chloe Gemell, and the 31-year-old actress has gone on to big things in Hollywood, landing parts in the likes of 'The Last Duel', 'The Bikeriders' and 'Free Guy', after her breakthrough role as Villanelle / Oksana Astankova in BBC spy thriller series 'Killing Eve'.

Sharon gushed: “She’s the best – I couldn’t be more proud of her."