AMY Adams' hair colour has pigeon-holed her career.

The 42-year-old actress dyed her long luscious locks from blonde to red for the short-lived 2004 TV drama, 'Dr. Vegas' and noticed a huge change in the roles she was offered afterwards.

She explained during TimesTalks: "Based on roles that I was getting, called in for, people were responding to certain types of characters with me as a blonde and the minute I went red, it was quirky and fun instead of flirtatious and dumb. It was great, I liked that. But in all seriousness, it's just hair colour.

"It was really fascinating to see just one element of yourself change people's perception and that became a very powerful tool for me even in my acting. If you can change one very small thing and create an entirely different perception to the outside world based on one thing, and that was actually an important lesson for me to learn, I didn't quite get that before then."

But it isn't just her hair colour that has changed the path she's taken in her career, as becoming a mother to her six-year-old daughter Aviana, who she has with her husband Darren Le Gallo, allowed her to really get stuck in to her role in 'Arrival'.

She said recently: "It would have been a very different performance. I just have a different relationship with compassion since becoming a parent, and compassion for other people - not just my daughter.

"It opened up my eyes and got me outside of myself. I hate to think that I was so wrapped up in my own stuff before I had her but I was, so now I'm able to look at things from a different lens. It took me out of myself."