Angelina Jolie has confirmed she is retiring from acting to focus on writing and directing.

The Oscar winning actress said she had "never loved" being in front of the camera and felt "much happier" in an off-screen role.

Jolie, 39, told of her decision while promoting her latest film Unbroken, which she directed, about Olympic runner and US airman Louis Zamperini, who spent 47 days living on a raft after a plane crash and survived two years as a Japanese prisoner of war.

Earlier this year, she hinted that her appearance as Cleopatra in a biopic of the Egyptian queen could be her last acting role.

She recently signed up to direct Africa, a biopic of Richard Leakey, a Kenyan politician and conservationist.