Gwyneth Paltrow surprised the crowd at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry on Thursday night when she took to the stage for an unannounced performance.

The Oscar-winning actress made a surprise appearance at the famed country music venue to perform with her friend, Holly Williams, and the country singer's husband Chris Coleman.

Inviting Paltrow onto the stage, Williams told the audience, "Can y'all believe your luck? Y'all are used to those Nashville guests, but not those Oscar-winning Hollywood guests."

After the trio performed Williams' 2013 song Drinkin', the singer said, "Can y'all believe it? Isn't it annoying when they can just do everything and they just walk out looking all like that, right? Looking real good."

Williams told the crowd that she "had the great honour of meeting" the Sliding Doors star years ago and falling "in love" with her "secret voice".

The trio then performed Waiting on June, reports People.

While Paltrow is best known for acting and her lifestyle brand Goop, she has shown off her vocals on screen before, in the TV show Glee and the 2010 film Country Strong, in which she played country singer Kelly Canter.

The Shakespeare in Love actress trained with vocal coaches and Nashville musicians to prepare for the role, and she subsequently recorded several songs for the Country Strong soundtrack with her co-star Tim McGraw.

She also performed the title track at the Country Music Association Awards (CMAs) that same year, and sang Coming Home during the 2011 Oscars, as it was nominated for Best Original Song.

In a 2012 interview with The Boot, the Hollywood actress named Williams, the granddaughter of country legend Hank Williams, as one of her favourite country artists.

"And Holly Williams' record, I love. I like that sort of older style, soulful country," she praised. "When you can hear the pain in the woman's voice, those are the women that I really connected with."