Kate Beckinsale Amazed With Action Star Status 8/15/08

Actress Kate Beckinsale is still shocked that critics and film fans have accepted her as an action heroine in films like Underworld and Van Helsing - because she feared she'd be a laughing stock.

The sexy Brit admits she only took on the action roles because they "scared the c**p" out of her - and she always likes an acting challenge. And she's still astonished she pulled the action roles off on the big screen.

She says, "It still amazes me that people actually watching me with a gun didn't just burst out laughing. "I can't even play ping-pong, but it turns out I'm good with weapons. I've got enormous hands, like a transsexual, and that's probably why."