Daniel Radcliffe blasts 'dearth of roles' for actresses

Daniel Radcliffe agrees there is a lack of roles for women in the film industry.

The Harry Potter actor has spoken out in support of recent comments made by his former co-star Emma Watson, who was appointed UN Women Goodwill Ambassador in July 2014. The actress serves as an advocate for UN Women’s HeForShe campaign in promoting gender equality.

Daniel thinks it's “sad” that women still have to declare themselves feminists, and staunchly agrees there is a shortage of roles for talented actresses.

"It’s sad that people are having to come out as feminist. I thought we’d have got beyond this point. I would hope it would be assumed of me that I was one," he told British magazine Elle in an excerpt from its forthcoming October issue. “You see amazing male characters, and there is an absolute dearth of roles for women.”

The Now You See Me 2 actor previously admitted he was unaware of the inequality in Hollywood until the Sony email leak in 2014, which revealed the female stars of American Hustle were on a 7 per cent pay deal, while their male co-stars were on a 9 per cent deal.

The 27-year-old told Australia's Daily Telegraph newspaper at the time, "That, to me, is shocking... stuff like that is crazy and the thing I can’t help but think is ‘Who? Who’s doing that? What guy is sitting in a studio somewhere thinking let’s f**k the girls out of some money’?”

The British actor can next be seen in crime drama Imperium and thriller Jungle, based on the memoir Lost in the Jungle from Yossi Ghinsberg. The story follows three young men on a trek through the Amazonian rainforest.