Noomi Rapace couldn't read or write properly until she was 12.

'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' star grew up in Sweden and Iceland and was raised on a remote farm and the 44-year-old actress now revealed she's self-educated and even compared herself to wild 'Jungle Book' character Mowgli who was raised by animals in the story.

She told The Times newspaper: "There were no boundaries, really. I'm self-taught and self-raised, and I couldn't properly read and write until I was 12,13.

"We didn't have books or TV - I was out playing and building stuff and riding horses. Sometimes I felt like Mowgli, this child who was raised in the wilderness."

She previously opened up about her childhood in an interview with the Guardian, revealing she only had four CDs growing up and became obsessed with connecting with the world of entertainment but she never expected to make it in Hollywood.

Noomi said: "I came from a poor farm, I’m not educated, no one opened doors for me, I don’t come from money ...

"I grew up on this farm, and we didn’t have a TV for many years. There was no radio, there was no newspaper, there was no information coming in, only me sitting in the pickup truck playing my CDs. I had four CDs: Bruce Springsteen, Tracy Chapman, Dolly Parton, and a weird Icelandic band called KK. So I was obsessed with Bruce Springsteen when I was little, and just dreaming of connecting with the world."

Noomi previously revealed she split from her past by changing her last name when she got married.

She was born Noomi Noren but she decided to change her name when she exchanged vows with Par Ola Norell in 2001 - with the couple deciding they would both be known as "Rapace" which means bird of prey in both French and Italian and they passed it on to their son Lev when he was born in 2003.