Tara Reid: I'm a shark swot

Tara Reid has turned into a shark guru.

The actress stars in surprise movie hit Sharknado, a bizarre franchise about a natural disaster that causes the sea predators to be hurled onto land and attack people.

It's become something of a cult classic and fans are always quizzing Tara, 39, about the fanged fish. Lucky for them, the actress has swotted up.

"It is pretty weird that people are asking me questions about sharks, as if I'm some kind of expert," she laughed to German channel Tele 5. "But I do actually know quite a lot about them and can answer a few questions with authority!"

Sharknado falls into the so-bad-it's-good category and has revived the career of former Beverly Hills, 90210 star Ian Ziering. Tara still can't believe that the comedy-horror has become this big.

"It is crazy that the whole world loves this film and people everywhere are responding to it," she marvelled. "The fans are my favourite thing about all of this. Without them we wouldn't be here. They are the ones who promoted the film via the social networks... It meant we could make parts two and three, which we didn't think would happen."

Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! hit TV screens in July and while it may not have a high rating from official critics, fans were thrilled.

Tara believes the key to its success is knowing how ridiculous the premise is but still hamming up the drama.

"We pretend as though we are taking it all very seriously," she giggled. "Initially we genuinely were laughing at it - 'Haha! Sharks! That will never work!'"