According to "Downton Abbey" actress Michelle Dockery, her character Lady Mary Crawley would not be able to relate to her life.

Express reports that Dockery's father drove a van for a living. Her grandparents traded horses and sold fruit in the East End, and her great grandmother "worked in service" in the 1900s, as reported by the site.

"Lady Mary would never have spoken to me," Dockery said. "I would definitely have been below stairs."

According to the actress, she started doing impersonations of Margaret Thatcher when she was four-years-old.

"I think my parents knew before I did that I was going to be an actress," she said.

As a child, Dockery, known as Docker in school, had quite the "strong Essex accent," she said, which she had to drop for her role in "Downton Abbey."

"... I don't think I would have got the role of Lady Mary if I'd walked into the audition going, 'Allo, nice ter meet ya,'" she explained.

Now, Dockery is well-known, with fans dying for a picture with her -- something the actress only refuses if she is either with her godchildren or eating in a restaurant.

"At first I was nervous of complete strangers coming over and wanting to talk, but I find it quite easy to accept now," Dockery said. "...You can still pop to the shops for a pint of milk. Or go on the Tube. That's the last place you're recognized."

In addition to her fans, Dockery also has some celebrity admirers including American producer J.J. Abrams and actors Sandra Bullock, Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher.

"Laura Carmichael [who plays Lady Edith Crawley] and I were at the Met Ball last year and Beyoncé told us she was a fan of the show," Dockery said recently. "That was an amazing and strange experience. ... Edie Falco is one of my favorite actresses, and I met her at the Emmys last year and I could barely speak. She said she loved 'Downton.'"

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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

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