Amy Adams had dyed her hair bright red for the 2004 TV drama Dr Vegas. And although the series has long ended, the actress noticed a dramatic change in the roles she’s been offered since then. She now thanks the bright color for keeping her career red hot.

She explained on TimesTalks: “Based on roles that I was getting, called in for, people were responding to certain types of characters with me as a blonde and the minute I went red, it was quirky and fun instead of flirtatious and dumb. It was great, I liked that.

But in all seriousness, it’s just hair color. It was really fascinating to see just one element of yourself change people’s perception and that became a very powerful tool for me even in my acting.

If you can change one very small thing and create an entirely different perception to the outside world based on one thing, and that was actually an important lesson for me to learn, I didn’t quite get that before then.”

And it’s not merely the hair color she has to thank, as she claims that becoming a mother to six-year-old Aviana – whom she has with Darren Le Gallo – allowed her to deliver a superb performance in the movie Arrival.

She previously shared: “It would have been a very different performance. I just have a different relationship with compassion since becoming a parent, and compassion for other people – not just my daughter.

It opened up my eyes and got me outside of myself. I hate to think that I was so wrapped up in my own stuff before I had her but I was, so now I’m able to look at things from a different lens. It took me out of myself.”