Sword swinging Daryl's splash as blonde assassin

But while her latest role as a bloodthirsty assassin couldn't be more of a contrast, it's clear which one actress Daryl Hannah prefers.

"This is the first villain I've played and it's been absolutely great for me. I love it," enthuses the leggy blonde. "It's great to play someone who has nothing whatsoever that is likeable about her other than she's so bad.

"She's raw and bad and the audience is just going to hate her."

It's hardly surprising she's so gleeful about her latest character, as this is not just any old hitwoman, it's Elle Driver, the thoroughly evil star of Quentin Tarantino's blockbusting action movie Kill Bill.

The first installment of the two-part movie was a huge hit and catapulted its stars Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu and Daryl Hannah firmly into the A-list. And as the eagerly awaited Kill Bill Volume 2, finally hits screens today, it's Daryl who threatens to steal the show.

Her sinister portrayal of the one eyed, whistling, hitwoman, was one of the highlights of the first film and in the second Daryl promises her alter-ego will be worse than ever.

"Her rivalry with The Bride (Uma Thurman) leads to an all-out cat fight," she says excitedly. "The Bride used to be Bill's girl and now Elle Driver is Bill's girl. So Elle really wants to see The Bride go. She wants to be the one to finish her off.

"It's a messy, gruesome, gross brawl, two cats in a bag, there's a trashing everything, it's horrible," she adds with a giggle.

Although Daryl couldn't wait to get stuck into the action she admits wielding a giant samurai sword while wearing an eye-patch wasn't the easiest task in the world.

"It was a bit disorientating," she says. "It affects your depth perception and centre of gravity. And once you take the patch off, for some reason I can't explain, your other eye - the good one briefly goes dark."

Despite that the gung-ho actress says she's become a huge fan of the martial arts.

"I found working with the samurai sword so beautiful. It's an amazing art and there's a meaning to everything that you do and all the movements have a name. I loved learning it, but I'm terrible at it.

"I'm pretty well trained now at martial arts. But I've been trained to miss. So I could hit you but I would hit you really hard about that far in front of your face. I have no idea what would happen if I actually made contact," she adds, laughing.

Her new action-packed persona is a million miles away from the docile mermaid who made waves with Tom Hanks in the hit 1982 movie Splash.

But even though her roles have changed dramatically Daryl herself has barely altered. With her long blonde hair, flawless complexion and enviably slender physique it's difficult to believe she turned 43 this year.

And while many of her contemporaries have succumbed to the surgeon's knife in an effort to hold back time, Daryl has a far less painful secret to eternal youth.

"I think it's because I don't ever want to stop learning or get stuck in a routine," she explains. "Every day I want to keep learning, about relationships and everything.

"There's so much I haven't even experienced and that's why I want to start doing other things besides acting. I'm interested in the process of film making. I want to learn to play the piano, the guitar, surfing, there are so many things."

Even though to the rest of the world she's regarded as a great beauty, Daryl genuinely doesn't see it herself.

"I've always been a weird kid. And I've never felt attractive. I see my flaws and I've never really felt confident. It's just the way I am," she says with a resigned shrug.

However, she's really relishing the fact that the mermaid has morphed into one of the most memorable big screen baddies ever.

"Kill Bill has been great for me," she says. "I was performing in London in The Seven Year Itch when Quentin turned up backstage and told me he'd written a role specifically for me. I'm a huge fan, so I jumped at the chance.

"I didn't even have to say, 'What's the part?'. You just go, 'Yeah OK'."