A woman cast as a bus driver alongside actors Will Ferrell and Dustin Hoffman in "Stranger than Fiction" said she still works her day job driving a Chicago bus.

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Denise Hughes, who plays a Chicago bus driver in the movie, which screens Thursday at the Chicago International Film Festival, said she used her paycheck from the movie to buy a house and has hired an agent to try to find more acting rolls, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Wednesday.

Until then, she said, she'll continue driving her bus.

Hughes was cast as "Carla" in the movie after responding to a casting call at the Chicago Transport Authority's Chicago Avenue Garage.

"When I walked on the set, I had my own trailer with my name on it. I was almost in tears. I was calling my family: 'Come see this,'" she told the Sun-Times.

Hughes said she was surprised to find that Ferrell is actually "quiet and low-key," and Hoffman is "really that short," the newspaper report said.