Dakota Fanning says she understands why some child actors struggle in later life because the pressure can “make you crazy”.

The former child star, now 22, revealed she was often questioned at a young age about whether she would be successful as an adult in the film industry.

She told the Press Association: “People would always say to you: ‘Are you worried about growing up? Are you still going to be able to act?’

Dakota Fanning (Lionel Cironneau/AP)

“It would make you crazy and it would make you act out or think you need to grow up too fast, and that leads to making mistakes.

“I’m a very rational, logical person so that was never an option for me because I don’t want that for my life.

“But I can kind of understand it because it could turn you into a very insecure person, very easily.”

Dakota Fanning and Tom Cruise at the US premiere of War of the Worlds in 2005 (Stuart Ramson/AP)

Dakota, who as a child starred opposite Tom Cruise in War Of The Worlds and Denzel Washington in Man On Fire, now has two leading roles in movies being screened at the Toronto International Film Festival.

She said her early success brought “annoying” misconceptions which meant it was harder for her to secure roles as an adult.

Dakota said: “It’s definitely not as easy of a road when you start out younger because people do develop a lot of preconceived notions about who you are.

Dakota Fanning (Joel Ryan/Invision/Press Association Images)

“That’s just frustrating in life in general when people assume things about you without knowing the truth.

“There were definitely times when it would be annoying but I definitely have made my peace with that and have done the best I can.”

Dakota stars alongside Guy Pearce and Game Of Thrones actor Kit Harington in Brimstone, a gritty revenge western about a young woman in a frontier community who goes on the run when she is targeted by a preacher.

Dakota Fanning with American Pastoral director and co-star Ewan McGregor, Jennifer Connelly and Uzo Aduba (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

She also plays Ewan McGregor’s daughter in his directorial debut, American Pastoral, an adaptation of Philip Roth’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel

The Toronto International Film Festival runs until Sunday.