Actress Mary Steenburgen is giving music a try

(UPI) -- Mary Steenburgen plays a Las Vegas lounge singer in the upcoming star-studded film, "Last Vegas," which also stars Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Robert DeNiro and Kevin Kline. But according to a recent interview, Steenburgen's character is closer to home than you'd think.

The 60-year-old actress, star of movies like "Elf" and "What's Eating Gilbert Grape," has just signed to Universal Music as a songwriter.

"At one point I kind of looked in the mirror and said, you know, you're a mom, you're a wife, people count on you, you can't go off the deep end into this kind of crazy, musical swirl," the 60-year-old actress told CBS News on Sunday.

Steenburger said she developed her later-in-life interest in music after undergoing general anesthetic for a minor surgery.

"The music started right after that," Steenburger, who picked up the accordion, said.

"I'm obsessed by it," she said of the instrument her husband, Ted Danson, gave her for Valentine's Day. "I love it beyond belief. There's something about it that just appeals to me, I don't know why."

"Hey, it's a miracle to have a career in Hollywood. But it doesn't begin to sum me up," she added.