Sad news as Angeline Jolie has revealed that she is going to be taking a step away from acting.

Speaking at the press conference for her new film Maleficent, the actress said, “It’s going to take more of a back seat,” Jolie said of acting. “I’ve had a wonderful career… I’m sure there will be a few more films, but I am happy that I am able to be more selective and have fun with roles like this – but I would like to focus more on writing and directing and above all, I would like to focus more on my work with the UN and the PSVI.”

The actress has made a name for herself in the humanitarian world as a special envoy to the UN and as a vocal campaigner against Sєxual violence.

In recent years she has also gone behind the camera, making her directorial debut with In the Land of Blood and Honey in 2011 and more recently making Unbroken, a Second World War film penned by the Coen brothers that will be released at the end of the year.

However Angelina did say that her children love seeing films featuring herself and partner Brad Pitt.

“The older ones recently saw Mr and Mrs Smith and I think they thought that was the funnest thing they had ever seen,” she continued. “Watching your parents battle it out as spies is one strange child fantasy.”

She also revealed that her five-year-old son Knox loves the Tomb Raider franchise.

“My littlest one, Knox, sees Tomb Raider and thinks that Mummy can do all those things. [Maleficent] is one I’m the most excited about because I think it’s one we can all see and that they’re really going to like.”

As for Maleficent, she said that she will be taking the whole family to see the new version of the classic fairy tale, but that her children have already had a preview: “My children love Maleficent’s voice, so they always make me do it at home. I think it really brought out the child in me, being part of this film.”

Angelina and Brad’s youngest daughter Vivienne also makes an appearance in the film however the actress didn’t seem keen for her children to follow in her and Brad’s footsteps. When asked if the kids would become actors too, Angelina replied, “Oh god, I hope not! We never have intended to put our children in films and encourage them to be actors. We encourage them to be happy in whatever they want to be,” said the 38-year-old. The couple’s youngest daughter, Vivienne, made her debut acting role in the Disney film, but the actress explained that the job was out of necessity. “The reason we ended up needing to put Vivienne in the film is because all the children we brought to set, including crew members’ kids, were terrified. They would cry or freeze.”

Maleficent is released 28 May in UK cinemas.