In recent months Anne Hathaway has returned to the spotlight with a slew of high-profile roles and a more-than-impressive style statement. She first appeared in “WeCrashed” the Apple TV+ series that chronicles the rise and fall of “WeWork”. More recently, she walked the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival to promote her latest film, a period drama, Armageddon Time, in which she co-stars with Oscar Isaac and Jeremy Strong. She was also spotted on the set of the psychological thriller Duelles with Jessica Chastain. As the actress celebrates her 40th birthday today, Vogue gives you 5 things you probably didn't know about Anne Hathaway.

In addition to her acting ambitions, Anne Hathaway dreamed of becoming a nun as a child:

"When I was younger, I thought about becoming a nun for a while," she once said. "You know how it is when you grow up and you want to do a lot of different things, but I wanted to be an actress before I wanted to be a nun. Being a nun was more of a separate thing." Anne Hathaway, who was raised Catholic, broke up with the church after her older brother came out. "The whole family converted to Episcopalianism after my older brother came out," Anne Hathaway said. "Why should I support an organization that has a limited view of my brother whom I love with all my heart?" But being Episcopalian didn't exactly take either. "So I'm...nothing," she says. "What the hell, I'm creating myself. In a way, I'm under construction."

Her career took off after she fell out of a chair during an audition:

Anne Hathaway became a global star after landing the role of Mia Thermopolis in Princess Diaries. Unlike other success stories seen and seen again, Anne Hathaway got the part with just one audition. The story goes like this: while traveling to New Zealand to star in an independent film called “The Other Side of Heaven”, she made a 26-hour stopover in Los Angeles, where she auditioned for a small film, The Princess of Tribeca (the original name of Princess Diaries). There she met director Garry Marshall and the two hit it off immediately. "At one point in the audition," recalls Anne Hathaway, "I got very nervous and fell out of my chair, and I think that's what impressed him the most."

She still feels gratitude for the role.

Every year since Princess Diaries was released in 2001, on the anniversary of the film Anne Hathaway said she thinks back and is grateful: "I remember [that day] and I thank the universe, a big heartfelt thank you because that was the day my dreams came true. There are many aspects of my life that are very mundane, but also many that are like a fairy tale. That was the day my fairy tale began."

Her career is filled with "could have been" moments:

While Anne Hathaway has starred in many mainstream films of the past decade, she actually turned down a starring role in Judd Apatow's comedy “Knocked Up, A Way to Go”. Why? Because she would have been uncomfortable with the film's relatively explicit birthing scene. "My problem was that not having experienced motherhood myself, I didn't know how I would feel on the other side of giving birth," she said in 2012, four years before the birth of her son Jonathan, followed in 2019 by the birth of her other son Jack. She further added, "I could have given birth to a child and thought, 'Oh, well, I really should have done this movie. The role eventually went to Katherine Heigl.

She's not afraid to take a cue from her mother when it comes to her big roles:

Like mother, like daughter. Anne Hathaway's mother, Kate, a theater actress herself, played the role of Fantine in the first U.S. tour of Les Misérables, the same one that won Anne Hathaway an Oscar in 2013. "She told me a lot about her experience playing Fantine, which really helped me believe that I had it in my blood," she said. "I think that allowed me to connect on a deeper level with my character, knowing how much it meant to her." Anne Hathaway's mother later said that the intense study of her daughter's character ended up teaching her a thing or two about the role. "I know I'm her mother, but I think she's the perfect Fantine," she told the Los Angeles Times. "I don't feel like I dove into Fantine as far as she did. Anne actually opened my eyes to the character because of all the research she did."