Anne Hathaway has been heralded for her ability to transform into everything from a Vogue assistant to a French Revolution-era prostitute to Catwoman, but it was a fear of being typecast after the mega-success of her debut film, 2001's "The Princess Diaries," that inspired the actress to explore such a variety of roles, she told HuffPost Live in a conversation on Tuesday.

"'The Princess Diaries' was so cool in so many ways, because it was a great first job -- it was a big hit -- but at the same time, it was a hard thing to be like, 'Robert Rodriguez, I swear I can do one of your movies!'" Hathaway said. "It was hard to get into rooms to be taken seriously for roles that weren't princesses, so I think partially that was why I've tried to have as big a range as I have."

The Academy Award-winner, who currently stars in "The Intern," said her success as an actress has been "such a lovely surprise."

"I've worked very hard for it, but I'm so surprised that it's going as well as it is," she added.

Watch more from Anne Hathaway's conversation with HuffPost Live here.

Want more HuffPost Live? Listen on the go with free downloads of our best interviews on iTunes here , and subscribe here for our morning email to guarantee you won't miss our buzziest conversations.

Also on HuffPost:

For a constant stream of entertainment news and discussion, follow HuffPost Entertainment on Viber .