Carrie Underwood Hopes Her ‘Soul’ Inspires Fans

Carrie Underwood has been known to use her music as a platform for charitable efforts, and now the country superstar is stepping out from behind the microphone and putting her star power to good use with her big screen debut.

The blond beauty is set to star as Sarah Hill, a church youth leader, in the upcoming film 'Soul Surfer,' which chronicles the inspiring story of Bethany Hamilton, a surfer who lost her left arm in a shark attack when she was 13 years old.

"Within the past five years, I've gotten into a wonderful position where if I say something, someone somewhere is going to hear it," Carrie explains in regards to why she chose the role. "I feel like I have a responsibility to do good things with that."

The singer hopes that her fans will not just go to see her in the movie, but also to learn something from the inspiring true story.

"Being a part of this was like wow, this is a perfect platform for me to do a lot," Carrie says. "If a few of my fans come to see the movie because I'm in it and see how great it's gonna be -- and learn about Bethany and how they can apply these things to their lives, it's totally worth it."

While this is the country darling's first time on the big screen, she made her TV premiere on CBS' 'How I Met Your Mother' last year. After filming, she gave fans quite the scare when she blogged: "I have officially decided that I'm giving up the music business." Fortunately for her music fans it was quickly followed with: "LOL! Just kidding."

'Soul Surfer,' which co-stars Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt, is set to be released to theaters April 8.