Mackenzie Crook is "not fussed" about acting and is "not that into it any more".

The 54-year-old screen star rose to fame in the UK version of The Office before heading to Hollywood with a recurring role in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, but Mackenzie has now admitted he prefers working off-camera and is happiest when he's writing or directing.

He told the Guardian newspaper: "Acting I'm not that fussed about. It's fun. But I'm not that into it any more."

Crook went on to admit he doesn't think he's a particularly good actor and struggles to watch his early work playing Gareth in The Office.

He added: "I've never been convinced by my acting. I can always see myself acting my socks off, honestly. When I look at The Office, in my eyes, I seem to be in a different show to everyone else.

"Martin Freeman is so natural, so believable, and then my Gareth comes in, and it's like: 'What are you doing, mate? Tone it down a bit.' But people like the character so it might be just me thinking that."

The actor - whose real name is Paul Crook - went on to confess he felt uncomfortable in the spotlight and hated being labelled a "weird-looking bloke".

He added: "It became this thing in the press, I was the weird-looking bloke. And I thought: 'You've put that on me; I don't think I do look weird. You're thinking of [The Office character] Gareth, and now you can't see past Gareth, so I will for ever be weird-looking. Or maybe I am weird-looking? But surely if I was weird-looking, that would have been what kids at school said?"

When asked what the kids at school would say about him, Mackenzie replied: "Well, I was small. And my name was Paul. So I was Small Paul."

It comes after Mackenzie previously admitted he used a "particularly lucrative" pay cheque from his acting career to buy himself a piece of woodland in Essex instead of indulging his urge to buy a sports car.

He told Cpre.org.uk: "My favourite bolthole is the wood I own in Essex. A few years ago, I did a particularly lucrative job, and my first thought was that I should buy a Ferrari - I'd always hankered after one when I was young.

"But I decided there was no way I could justify that! Instead, I bought the opposite of a sports car: eight acres of woodland. I get down there regularly, but never as often as I'd like.

"Not that it needs me, of course - it's been doing all right without me for the past four centuries ... I enjoy woodcraft and coppicing and things like that, and I'm building up those sorts of skills.

"If I hadn't 'discovered the stage', I could see myself working in conservation."