LOS ANGELES, July 13, 2009 (AFP) - British actress Natalia Tena has become famous for her witchery as a Harry Potter sidekick, but with an eye on her Spanish roots the young actress longs to work with Iberian star directors Pedro Almodovar and Julio Medem.

Tena, 24, stars in the sixth Potter flick "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," which hits cinemas in the United States this week, but less mainstream roles beckon if the starlet has her way.

"I would love to do Spanish cinema and work with Pedro Almodovar or Julio Medem, that would be a dream, they have an intensity that fascinates me," she told AFP, speaking in Spanish.

London-born Tena plays the good-natured witch Nymphadora Tonks in the latest Potter tale, sporting her now trade-mark, color-changing locks.

"I have played a small role in the film, but it has been incredible to discover the significance that this work has for kids, the letters that I receive are as if I were a real hero, it is very nice.

"The Harry Potter films are a phenomenon as potent as a piece of Hogwarts magic. Resistance is futile," she said.

The accordion-playing one-time busker, who has also trodden the boards in Shakespeare's "Othello," says she wants to use her talents to see the world.

"Before I turn 25 in November I want to see New York, and eat an enormous hot dog close to Broadway and walk a lot. I want to travel, acting or playing music. I would like to go all over the world doing what I do."

Tena studied at Bedales, an exclusive English boarding school, whose alumni include Minnie Driver, Lily Allen and Daniel Day-Lewis.

Her role model is Helena Bonham Carter, who also features in "The Half-Blood Prince," playing the vengeful Bellatrix Lestrange.