Dakota Fanning was “really starstruck” when she landed a role in ‘Friends’.

The 26-year-old actress played Mackenzie in one episode of the iconic sitcom in 2004 when she was just 10 years old, and has said that despite having worked with legendary Hollywood stars from a young age, she was the most starstruck when she finally met the ‘Friends’ cast.

She said: “I was really starstruck. I’d met a lot of people. I’d worked with Robert De Niro and Denzel Washington, but these people were in my living room all the time on the show. So I felt like I knew them more, so I was kind of even more starstruck by meeting them all.”

Dakota also heaped praise on her late ‘Uptown Girls’ co-star Brittany Murphy – who passed away in 2009 at the age of 32 – as she said the actress taught her to “always have fun”.

She added: “She just taught me to always have fun. She was such a ray of light and had such a playful spirit. She made every day special for me. She was so wonderful.”

And the star had kind words to say about Tom Cruise too, after he helped her celebrate her 11th birthday on the set of ‘War of the Worlds’ in 2005.

Speaking during an appearance on ‘Watch What Happens Live’, Dakota explained: “It was when Cold Stone Creamery was just sort of a thing and Tom and [director] Steven Spielberg, they brought in the marble slab on set and had the people making the ice cream for my 11th birthday. It was very fun.”

Meanwhile, the ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ actress previously said she felt huge pressure growing up in the spotlight, as she was scared of “messing up” during her teenage years.

She said: “Turning 21 for me was really freeing. Before that, things could be scary … I would go to a gala dinner and all the glasses would already be filled with wine and I’d hold one up for a toast and [people would say], she’s drinking wine! No, I wasn’t! Stupid little things like that. I mean, I had been to bars and clubs when somebody was having an after-party for a premiere, but I’d never snuck in. I’d never gone anywhere I wasn’t supposed to go. I felt there was such an expectation for me not to mess up. Which could have driven me crazy, because that’s an outrageous thing to put on a younger person, who’s supposed to make mistakes. And I certainly have made mistakes, but just privately. When I turned 21, I felt like a weight had lifted; I felt more freedom to come into my own.”