The actress admits playing a mean mum was one of the toughest parts she's ever had.

"After rehearsing one scene I remember telling he director that I felt worse about this than I have about killing people in films," mum-of-two Henstridge tells WENN.

"I play what's equivalent to the most horrible stage mother, but in the competitive world of ice skating; the director likened my character to Cruella De Ville.

"It was a fun role to play, but I felt so horrible even just acting as mean and controlling to the girl who played my daughter in the film. There were times when rehearsing scenes that I felt sick about tormenting my 'daughter' in that way."

The 41 year old, who also appeared in Ghosts of Mars and The Whole Nine Yards, has had a busy 2015 - she has also played a mother in Forced Entry, in which she has to fight to keep herself and her son safe when their home is broken into.

"I spent the entire film in a heightened sense of survival," she says. "Of course having children myself, having to go to some of those places can be physically and emotionally draining."

She also played the owner of a spanking fetish club in the film The Seventh Secret.