Actress Evangeline Lilly's father nicknamed her "Bacon Monster" when she was a teenager as she ate a lot of food.

"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" star seemed to be always eating as a teenager because she was so active, with her desire for one food in particular leading to her father giving her the odd moniker, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

"With puberty my appetite had finally exploded. I became extremely active and physical - soccer, weights, ice-skating, climbing. Dad would call me his Bacon Monster because I'd eat half a pound each Saturday," she said.

However, the 35-year-old, who has three-year-old son Kahekili with boyfriend Norman Kali, said that she didn't always have the same passion for food, and liked the idea of it more than consuming it.

"As a girl I spent most of my time in a fantasy world and you don't need to eat there. I enjoyed seeing all the candy in 'Willy Wonka', reading about the cakes and potions in 'Alice In Wonderland' and the hunger of 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'. But actual food didn't interest me," she said.