Bill Hader thinks actors need a "really thick skin" to survive in Hollywood.

The 48-year-old film star has admitted to hating the experience of auditioning for on-screen roles, acknowledging that it can be a "brutal" experience.

Bill told Interview magazine: "I'd only had it where I tested for a couple of pilots and I didn't get it, but yeah, where you go through all those auditions and then you have to go in front of the network.

"I always think it is like Mulholland Drive, the weird shadowy people and you can't see anything and you're like, 'Well, this is just very cold and strange for something to be very happy.'"

Bill still has vivid memories of auditioning for various roles and receiving rejections.

He said: "It's the worst feeling. It's that weird thing where you have to be open and be vulnerable in your work, but then at the same time you have to have a really thick skin because it's brutal. And people will tell you, 'It's brutal out there.' But I'm like, 'No, it's actually really brutal.'"

Bill subsequently recalled one particularly unsympathetic rejection.

The actor shared: "I remember a casting director, I did my audition for a comedy and I finished, and she went, 'You know this is a comedy, right?'"

Meanwhile, Bill previously revealed that he hates watching himself on screen.

The actor has starred in a string of hit movies during his career, including Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Trainwreck - but Bill still hates seeing himself on the big screen.

Asked if he struggles with body image, Bill told The Independent: "You know, you have to watch yourself on screen. And that's no fun, just in general. I don't like the way I sound. I don't like the way I look. It's just embarrassing.

"But I'll be 45 in two months, so the weight thing is more of a health thing now. You go to a doctor and they say, 'At this age and height, you should weigh this.'"

Bill first rose to prominence as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, the long-running comedy sketch show.

The actor can still remember feeling uncomfortable about his on-screen appearance during his early years on the show.

He said: "I wasn't used to seeing myself on screen - you go, 'God I look terrible,' so you start exercising and jogging and stuff. I still ate like s***, though."