Lucy Liu feels "lonely" and "shy" at Hollywood awards ceremonies

She told The Hollywood Reporter: "I don't know that many people would be like: 'Let's go to the Gala together'. Most people just want to have the spotlight on themselves, and it's a lonely place to be, standing there.

"You don't know what's going on. I'm still shy and I'm still really awkward with these social situations.

"There's a sense of loneliness to it as well - it's so hard to connect when you're in a situation where you're sitting at a table and it's quite formal, and then you get separated after that."

However, Lucy, 56, was thrilled when her pal Demi Moore offered to accompany her to the Annual Academy Museum Gala is Los Angeles last month.

She added: "Demi was like: 'Let's just go together'. That generosity of spirit goes such a long way. Having gone in together on the red carpet, it helped me to readjust.

"I haven't been in L.A. in such a long time. I haven't lived here in many, many, many years. I just feel sort of out of the loop, and I think I always will feel that way, but I embrace that, and I also know to pay it forward."

Lucy's new movie Rosemead is tipped as a possible contender at the upcoming Hollywood awards season, but the actress admitted she just wants to encourage film fans to see the picture.

When asked if she's going to be "doing the awards season rounds", she replied: "I think so. I mean, I don't know if we're there.

"It took us a while to find distribution that we are getting our legs up, and if people receive it in that way, I would be so thrilled to just have people watch the movie.

"The heartbreak to me would be that it just got locked in a vault."

In the film, Lucy plays a Chinese immigrant who has lost her husband and is battling a terminal illness while raising her schizophrenic son and the actress-turned-producer admitted it was tough bringing the film to the big screen.

She said: "We got it made after many, many years - 16 different investors. 'Well, here's 10 cents and here's another $20,' hoping that maybe it has a legacy after ...

"[It was] gruelling ... It's disappointing. It can be disheartening, but when you have so much persistence and fight still left in you, you can keep understanding it because I've seen the other side of it."