Gwyneth Paltrow took a hiatus from the bright lights of Hollywood to raise her two children, but now the Oscar winning actress is preparing to step back into the spotlight.

The former industry darling has marked return with a glamorous covershoot for American magazine W.

Her tousled mother-on-the-run hair was replaced by a sleek blonde mane and her usually alabaster, make-up free look was given a rather dramatic bronze and polish for the cover.

Aside from a few minor roles, Paltrow has largely focused on looking after Apple, 3, and son Moses, 1, the two children she has with her Coldplay husband Chris Martin.

The 34-year-old is now looking to reclaim her leading lady status, with a major silver screen role in Iron Man, where she stars as the girlfriend of a superhero played by Robert Downey Jr.

She told W magazine: "It's been a long time since I've done a big part in a movie, and I'm very excited." "Robert called me and said, 'Don't you want to be in a movie that people see?' And he's right."

Paltrow, who is still recovering from recent knee surgery hasn't ruled out having more children.

"I have a dream version where I think, maybe in four years I'll have two in a row really quickly again — how fabulous to have a whole bunch of them! But then at that point, when everyone's potty-trained and sleeping through the night, are you really going to go back?"

She adds: "My husband really wants to adopt. So I don't know; I'm sort of open for anything."