Christina Hendricks has revealed she doesn't want children.

The Mad Men star, who plays working mum Joan Harris on the award-winning drama, admitted she has no interest in being a mother in real life.

"We got a puppy, and that's my idea of starting a family," she told US magazine Health.

"People say, 'Oh, that's practice for parenting', but if it's practice for anything it's to be a mum to another puppy. We've decided that we are not really interested in having children."

The 38-year-old continued: " It seems like it's expected that you'd want to have kids. It's just very normal for people to say, 'Well, when you guys have kids...' And then when I say, 'Actually I don't think we're going to do that,' people will say, 'Oh, you say that now...'."

But Christina, who is married to actor Geoffrey Arend, said she's not completely closed off to the idea.

"It doesn't bother me, though. And, you know, there's a small chance I could change my mind," she added.

Former model Christina, who next stars in Ryan Gosling's directorial debut How To Catch A Monster, revealed she never expected to become a full-time actress.

"I've never been that person who had a plan like, 'In five years, I'm going to do this'. Things have shifted in ways that I would never have imagined," she said, adding: "I never anticipated being a professional actor. I just assumed it would be in community theatre - like after my job, I would go to rehearsal and be in a play."