Michelle Dockery has revealed that Downton Abbey has changed her career in terms of opening up other opportunities.
The British actress is currently starring alongside Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore and Oscar nominee Lupita Nyong'o in action movie Non-Stop, which opened at cinemas on Friday.
However she admitted that if she hadn't been cast as Lady Mary Crawley in the ITV show, she would probably never have won the role at all.
"It's been amazing, and like all the cast, we really weren't expecting this. It's brought about such opportunity for us all," Michelle said.
"Moving into something like Non-Stop has been a wonderful experience for me and I'm not sure that would have happened without the show so I owe a lot to the show.
"I love doing it, I love everything that goes around it like the amount of travelling that I've been doing. It's really been an incredible journey."
Michelle, who plays air hostess Nancy in the action thriller, added that she jumped at the chance to do something completely different to Downton.
"I read the script and loved it, and loved the role, and it was just a bonus really that it was an action thriller and something very different to what I have been doing," she explained.
"The opportunity to work with Liam and Julianne was just incredible," she added.
Michelle is set to return to Downton for a fifth series in the autumn.
