WHOOPI Goldberg has confessed she used to make extra cash as a phone sex operator.

The Sister Act star started talking dirty to supplement her income when she was struggling to make ends meet while chasing her acting dreams in Hollywood.

Goldberg revealed her big secret on the US talk show The View, insisting the phone job helped her become a better actor.

"What you have to do is you have to be a good actor ... when I was younger, the money was great," she said.

It's not a job she could return to now, she joked, because people would know her voice.

Originally published as Phone sex helped Whoopi's performance