Actress Emma Stone says she looked to fellow "funny girl" Diane Keaton for inspiration after being chosen as the face of Revlon.

The 23-year-old, who has been a regular fixture on the red carpet lately with the release of her new movie The Amazing Spider-Man, was stunned when the beauty giant asked her to front an ad campaign.

"When they approached me, I thought: 'Why would I be approached for a beauty campaign?' Because I'd always been the funny girl," she told British magazine Look.

"Then I thought about Diane Keaton for L'Oréal and how sometimes real beauty gets to be celebrated - like what's inside is what counts."

Stone said she accepted the offer as a way to connect with other women.

"You can still put makeup on, but because it makes you feel good and not for anybody else," she said.

"I felt I had an opportunity to reach women in a way that makes them feel like who they are is enough."

Despite regularly appearing on lists of the world's sexiest women, Stone said she had struggled with her appearance in the past, particularly her trademark freckles.

"I used to do anything I could to cover them up," she said. "Now I spend an inappropriate amount of time in the sun trying to get more freckles."

-Fairfax NZ with Cover Media

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