Kerry Condon: My year with three Hollywood legends

"When I see Sean again I'll have to introduce myself because I don't feel like we met one another at all while making This Must Be The Place," she laughed. "I was nervous, and I really wanted to do a good job, so I stayed in my American accent and in the character all the time."

As for Nolte, with whom Condon shares most of her scenes in her role as an ambitious jockey in the acclaimed TV series Luck, she said: "Everyone says Nick is mad, but it's like all the people you think are nice aren't, and all the people you think are crazy are actually completely normal.

"Nick is so sweet, so shy and so awkward when he's not acting. I can't believe that at 70 years of age, with the life he's had, that he still has that concentration and stamina."

She added that the show's main star, Dustin Hoffman, "always seems to be smiling". "They all still work hard. They're not like young actors these days who think if you look good then that's enough."

Nobody could accuse Condon of not working hard. After all, a girl doesn't get from Thurles to LA before the age of 30 without some serious graft.

As a good example, she has spent the past few months happily working 12-15 hour days on the set of Luck. Condon was in the midst of shooting the second episode of the second series when she spoke to the Irish Independent, but just days later, the series was axed following the death of three horses on set during production.

Luckily that show isn't the only card up her sleeve right now. In This Must Be The Place, which is largely Irish-made, Condon vanishes into the role of Rachel, a lonely American single mother who befriends Sean Penn's ageing glam rocker as he treks across the US.

And earlier this year Condon starred in the Oscar-winning Irish short movie The Shore, directed by Terry and Oonagh George.

While it may seem as if Condon has come out of nowhere, she set her heart on becoming an actress as a teenager, working various weekend jobs around Thurles to pay for acting and drama classes in Dublin.

She wrote to director Alan Parker looking for work, and though he never replied, by a twist of fate Parker cast the then 16-year-old Condon in her first movie, Angela's Ashes.

Condon never went to drama school, and instead learned on the job on stage in Martin McDonagh's play The Lieutenant of Inishmore, in movies like Intermission and Ned Kelly, and in the TV series Rome.

"You think when you start getting jobs that it'll get easier, but that's the biggest lie ever. It gets harder," Condon explained. "You have to put in more work. I wish it were the casting couch days because it'd be a lot easier!"

Condon knows how hard it can be for a new actress to make a name for herself, so can she imagine what it is like for her young This Must Be The Place co-star Eve Hewson, daughter of Bono and Ali Hewson?

"If you think about it, Paolo [Sorrentino, the director] cast people with things in common with their characters," she said. "In the movie Eve plays a girl who is friends with a very famous rocker, and of course that's going to be a good match because of her dad."

Still, Condon doesn't think that Hewson's parents' fame should prevent her from forging her own identity and career.

"She's just figuring it out like everyone else. I don't see [her parents' fame] as being that much of a hindrance," she said.

As for Condon, who moved to LA 18 months ago, she admitted that she likes the outdoorsy nature of Californian life.

And she admits she's lucky not to have to contend with the LA dating scene. "I'd imagine it's horrible!" she exclaimed.

"I'm seeing a guy now who has nothing to do with films. It's so much nicer with somebody who isn't an actor. Two crazy people in one house would be too much. It's better there's one crazy person, and one nice person who looks after that crazy person."

This Must Be The Place is currently on general release. Luck can be seen on Sky Atlantic on Saturdays at 9pm.