The Hours star's mum Anne emigrated to America from Scotland when she was 10 years old and kept her distinctive accent, and Moore admits her childhood pals picked up on the lilt.

Her experiences inspired her to create the children's picture book, My Mom is a Foreigner, aimed at helping kids whose parents come from another country.

Moore, whose mum died in 2009, tells Scotland's Sunday Mail newspaper, ""My mother kept her Scots accent but I didn't notice because I heard her voice every day. When I was little, I'd bring people home and they'd say, 'Why does your mom talk so funny?' I couldn't quite hear it. It was just how my mother spoke.

""I know lots of women who have mums from Poland, Russia or Puerto Rico - somewhere that was considered different. This book is all about what it's like to be the first generation in a new country.

""It's really about children talking about what it is to have a parent from another country and all of the things that you grow up with and things that are difficult for you, like language differences.""