Norah Jones tumbled into her first acting role in Wong Kar Wai's My Blueberry Nights, she admitted this week.

The singer-composer revealed that when the Hong Kong director summoned her to a meeting she thought it was to discuss music for the film. "Then he asked me if I wanted to be in a movie, and I said, 'I love film. I'd love to try it, but I don't know if I can act,'" Jones is quoted as saying on Ananova.com. "And he said 'Ah, you'll be fine.'"

Jones plays a woman who goes in search of herself during a journey across America and encounters a string of memorable characters along the way.

The film is a strong candidate to receive its world premiere at the Cannes film festival, scheduled for May 16-27. Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Rachel Weisz, and David Strathairn complete the key cast.

Jones said she got the jitters when she realised the star quality on board, but by then the die had already been cast. "It was too late to pull out. If it doesn't work, though, I hope I can always go back to my day job." Her latest album, Not Too Late, was No 1 in the Billboard album chart recently.