Amy Adams had a ''big crush'' on Leonardo Dicaprio.

The pair appeared together in the actress' big-screen debut 'Catch Me If You Can', but she had to focus on her work after dismissing her crush because she knew he would never fancy her.

She admitted to W magazine: ''When I did 'Catch Me If You Can', in 2002, I had a really big crush on Leonardo DiCaprio.

''I had fixated on him in 'Growing Pains' and in 'Titanic'. I was like, 'Oh, my gosh, if I ever work with Leo, it will be wonderful.'

''And then, there I was, with pigtails - looking not at all like Gisele [Bündchen], whom he was dating at the time. I figured my chances were pretty slim, so I just focused on the work.''

The 38-year-old star recently revealed she was well-prepared for the discipline of life on set thanks to her early years spent travelling because of her father Richard Kent's career in the US military.

She said: ''It definitely makes you a little bit more transient, which can turn out to be a good quality in life, and in fact has helped me in what I do

''What it really does is teach you how to adapt and change and fit into a new group or school, and that really is a lot like turning up to a new movie project and finding your place.''