Kate Beckinsale arrives at the premiere of Underworld Awakening

Star of the Underworld vampire movies Kate Beckinsale has told how she had to shun fine foods to get back into her leather catsuit.

The London-born actress has returned to her role as Selene for a fourth instalment in Underworld: Awakening.

The 38-year-old had been filming action thriller Contraband immediately before the latest vampire romp, and admitted it was tricky keeping on top form ready to squeeze back into her Selene costume.

“I was in New Orleans shooting Contraband where’s there’s the best food in the whole world, so that was annoying,” she said at the Underworld premiere in Los Angeles.

“But it’s good, it’s a costume I really like, so I don’t mind too much.”

Beckinsale, who is based in LA, said she would like to return to the stage in the near future. Her last appearance on stage was in 1996, before she had her daughter Lily Mo in 1999.

“It’s been very important to me to be the person putting her to bed at night, so theatre for me was not an option - that would have been too sad,” she explained.

“I think that might change in the next few years.”

The star said she would be supportive if her daughter showed an interest in the acting profession.

Both Beckinsale’s parents were notable actors. Her father was the late Richard Beckinsale and her mother is TV actress Jude Loe.

Beckinsale said: “I would be supportive. I wouldn’t discourage her, because I hated it when people did that to me. I would just encourage her to keep her options open as long as she could.

“It is a decision you make when you’re 18, and I think being an actor when you’re 18 is a perfect age to be an actor, before you’ve got kids. It’s quite a strange, peripatetic life, you know, that can be sometimes hard to arrange.”