Eva Green may be considered one of the most beautiful actresses in the world, but that’s not the reason we love her. Surprisingly, Green’s acting career only began 11 years ago, when she landed a part in 2003’s The Dreamers. Since then she’s enjoyed vast success in a string of blockbusters, including her breakout role as Vesper Lynd, the vixen who snares Bond, in 2006’s Casino Royale.

Eva Green Praise Eva has been accused of being quite gothic due to her love of black clothing, it's just "easy," she says

The same year that Casino Royale was released she won the BAFTA Rising Star Award, an award won by James McAvoy the previous year and Shia LaBeouf the following, just incase you doubted BAFTA’s ability to pick potential superstars.

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You’ll currently find Green on the big screen sailing the Mediterranean as the vicious and vengeful war queen, Artemisia in 300: Rise of an Empire and as Ava Lord in the upcoming Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. If she’s not enjoying enough success, she’s also part of the Penny Dreadful team, Showtime/Sky Atlantic’s new Victorian horror series, also starring Josh Hartnett, Timothy Dalton and Harry Treadaway.

So, she’s beautiful and successful, not the most unusual qualities to find in a Hollywood actress. But here’s why we love her. She’s just so darn cool and down to earth. We all rave about Jennifer Lawrence and how she’s the world’s best friend, but Eva Green definitely deserves to be a close second in our list of famous BFFs.

Shortlist caught up with the London-inhabiting French actress earlier this year and although the interview was pretty speedy, there are a ton of Eva Green gems hidden within.

Discussing her role as Artemisia in 300: Rise of an Empire, the magazine asked Green to describe her character, Artemisia: “God, I mean, she’s pretty full-on. First of all, she’s a woman at the head of the Navy, which is pretty unusual. She’s ballsy and there’s something very virile about her; she’s gifted with weapons and she’s ruthless. She can’t tolerate morons of cowards.”

But did Green have a say in the war queen’s look? It’s not actually too far away from the actress’s own quirky style, “I always try to take a hand in the costumes because you have to be comfortable. But my hair actually got caught in one of the outfits I wore. I was in the middle of going this huge fight scene and had to go, ‘Oh f*ck, wait a second.’”

Eva Green PraiseEva Green appearing at a screening of Penny Dreadful in London

Shortlist asked Green if she may have accidentally injured anyone during the fight scenes: “No, but I killed two people during filming and they covered it up.” Beautiful, talented and she has a wicked sense of humour.  What's not to love about Eva Green?  That is, we're assuming that she was joking.  Perhaps someone should look into that...

MORE: MPAA pulls Eva Green's Sin City 2 poster, because human breasts

Click here to watch the trailer for Sin City: A Dame to Kill For