IU may be a top K-pop star with several television roles to her credit, but that doesn't mean that solo singer IU is beyond the occasional lapse of self-consciousness, particularly regarding her acting ability.

Thursday, on the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation radio show "Kim Shin Young's Noon Song of Hope," IU revealed she passed on an movie role offer out of fear.

"I haven't done a movie yet. But there was a casting offer that came in that I was grateful for. I was too scared to take it up," IU said.

"Because of my album preparations, I am scatterbrained but I am always grateful for the incoming offers."

The singer whose album "Modern Times" was released on Oct. 7, also revealed her simple strategy for avoiding the kind of press treatment she received after accidentally tweeting a photo with an apparently shirtless Eunhyuk of the boy band Super Junior: don't talk about any men that the media is obsessed with.

"I try not to talk about guys in any circumstance, or else articles will be released," IU said.

"[But] if you don't want those type of articles coming out, all you have to do is talk about guys that wouldn't be written about. There are a lot of good guys, like [actors] Lee Kye In or Park Geun Hyung."

When host Kim Shin Young asked IU to compare herself with Bae Suzy of K-pop girl group Miss A, the singer clearly became uncomfortable.

"What do you think is something that you're better at than Suzy?" Kim asked.

"I am comparing you two because you both sing and act well and have the image as the carefree nation's younger sisters."

"I am one year older than Suzy," IU said. "One [way] I am better than Suzy at is that I have a longer head."

Head size notwithstanding, though the actress may question her cinematic abilities, veteran actress Go Doo Shim, who played IU's foster mother in the recent television drama series "You're the Best, Lee Soon Shin," praised IU's work ethic in an interview earlier this week.

"IU did really well," Go told the website allpop at he press conference for her new series "The Future Choice."  "She went at it really ambitiously."

"I saw her on the very first day and I initially gave her a hand," she added.

"However, she did really well after one or two tries, enough so that I could remove my hand.  IU did her part perfectly.  To tell the truth, I cannot let go of my script.  I am always holding it...IU did not hold her script even during rehearsals.  She had memorized it.  There are no words for how well she did."