AceShowbiz - Colin Firth is keen to shed his serious movie image - he'd love to play "a transvestite or a stripper" on the big screen. The British actor shot to fame in a 1990s TV adaption of Jane Austen's "Pride & Prejudice" and has since gone on to play stoic roles in films like "Girl with a Pearl Earring" and first-time director Tom Ford's acclaimed 2009 movie "A Single Man.

Firth is tipped for Oscar glory next year with his portrayal of stuttering monarch King George VI in new royal drama "The King's Speech" - but the actor admits he'd like to take on a very different role next. He says, "I'm dying to be a transvestite or a stripper or a pop star. They (roles) just don't tend to come my way."

He had a taste for the flamboyant when he played a closeted gay businessman in hit ABBA movie musical "Mamma Mia!"