Emilia Clarke: 'I'm treated differently in Hollywood because I'm a woman'

Game Of Thrones star Emilia Clarke has compared the treatment of women by some Hollywood executives to racism.

The actress insists the current trends of diversity and equality in Tinseltown have done little to stop sexist movie bosses from treating women like second-class citizens.

"I feel so naive for saying it, but it’s like dealing with racism," Emilia tells the new issue of Rolling Stone magazine. "You’re aware of it... but one day, you go, 'Oh, my God, it’s everywhere!'

"You suddenly wake up to it and you go, 'Wait a second... Is that actually happening?'"

"It took me a really long time to see that I do get treated differently," she adds. "But I look around, and that’s my daily life."

The actress, who plays all-powerful dragon queen Daenerys Targaryen on Game of Thrones, is planning to take matters into her own hands and lift up women in Hollywood.

"I would love to start a production company that was just full of nice, funny women," she tells the publication.

Emilia also recently made it clear she's not an actress to be messed with in a hard-hitting Huffington Post blog published a few months ago to coincide with International Women's Day on 8 March (17).

"As my best friend would put it, I am a girl-boss, and I am in an industry where if I speak out against inequality I have a platform, and might be lucky enough to have a chance of being heard," she explained. "The roles I've played have given me an insight into what it feels like to be a woman who stands up to inequality and hate, and stands out as a feminist."