Actress Salma Hayek says she has been told to "sound dumber and speak faster" by directors in her career.

In an interview to Total Film magazine, the "Like a Boss" actress revealed how she was inspired by her Polish teacher while growing up in Mexico, and her initial interactions with directors, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

"I had a Polish acting teacher in Mexico, and he taught me so many wonderful things aside from acting. You could never miss a class. One time, one of the people in the class didn't come and showed up after three days with a paper from the doctor. He came over to him and said, 'Is that your death certificate?' He said, 'No'. And he said, 'You can walk out and never come back'," she recalled.

The actress continued: "If you're doing theatre, will you go to the audience and say you were sick? You were not sick enough. If you were in the hospital, I'd understand. But two days in bed ... don't show up with that paper to my class. This is not a joke. You are either committed to this class or you don't belong here."

The 53-year-old star started her career on Mexican serial "Teresa" in 1989. The actress says she hasn't been able to put the lessons into practice much during her career.

She went on to narrate an incident when was instructed to dumb herself down.

She said: "Unfortunately, I never had a lot of chances to do parts where I could use a lot of the things I learned. Or you learn them and they don't let you. I've had directors say to me, 'Dumber and faster. Sound dumber and speak faster!'"