She has a life that most people can only dream about, rising from humble beginnings to become a Hollywood star.

But despite her fame and fortune, actress Gemma Arterton has claimed that she is constantly trying to understand how less privileged people feel in a bid to keep in touch with her working-class roots.

The 27-year-old star said she has a need to understand the lives of ‘doormen and waiters’ so she doesn’t get carried away with her success.

The former Bond Girl, who was brought up on a council estate in Kent, said that she would never succumb to the ‘superficial life’ of the film industry.

She said: ‘I see my working-class background as a gift. There’s so much superficiality in the work I do and my upbringing helps me to remember that’s exactly what it is – superficial.

‘Don’t get me wrong, I have a very nice life. I have a nice house, I don’t have to worry about food, I drive a nice car and for this trip to Los Angeles I’m staying at a hotel that is so nice that when I arrived there, I almost cried.

‘But that sort of thing is never going to become the norm for me – and I never want it to. I always want to understand everybody’s aspect of life – not just the Hollywood people, but the waiter’s and the doorman’s too.

‘I get very uncomfortable when I see someone having a life of privilege and not appreciating it.’

Arterton, who stars alongside Jeremy Renner in upcoming film Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, was born in Gravesend, Kent, the daughter of Sally, a cleaner and Barry, a welder.

Her parents broke up when she was five and Arterton went to live with her mother and younger sister on a council estate.

She eventually left school at 16 to go to acting college. Stephen Frears, who directed Tamara Drewe, even sent Arterton to a vocal coach to tone down her thick Kent accent.

Speaking to Hello! Magazine, she added: ‘You should have seen me a couple of days ago. I’d just got back from a trip to Spain, where I didn’t really wash for a week. My hair was in dreadlocks and my nails were filthy. That’s the real me.’

Shortly after graduating from drama school in 2008, Arterton beat 1,500 other hopefuls to land the role of Bond girl Strawberry Fields in 007 film, Quantum of Solace. She has since gone on to star in the Boat that Rocked and Clash of the Titans.

In 2010 she married Italian sales manager Stefano Catelli and the pair currently live in London. She has admitted that being with someone who is not an actor helps to keep her ‘grounded’.

She has also previously admitted that she has no desire to become as famous as other leading ladies in Hollywood, such as Angelina Jolie.

‘Absolutely not,’ she said. ‘I’m really happy as I am. I’ve had a small taste of that sort of thing over the last two years and it’s not really where my heart lies.

‘I’m really happy doing these films, and doing theatre, and living in London, and spending time with my friends. I’m doing the job I love, and if it got any bigger than that, I wouldn’t enjoy it any more.’

By Simon Cable