'The Danish Girl' Star Alicia Vikander on Women's Roles in Hollywood: 'There Is a Change Happening' (Video)

While plenty of women have chimed in on the issue of inequality in Hollywood and the gender pay gap, “The Danish Girl” star Alicia Vikander believes things are improving.

“It is the reality; I’ve been extremely lucky,” Vikander told the audience at TheWrap’s screening of the film at the Landmark theater on Tuesday night. “I’ve played some really extraordinary, strong, female-layered roles. I think there is a change happening, I’ve seen it.”

The first time she was made aware of the problem was when someone reminded her of the fact that she had done four films in which she was the lead, but she hadn’t done one scene within these films with another actress.

Also Read: 'The Danish Girl' Venice Review: Eddie Redmayne Discovers the Woman Within

“It’s wonderful to see that with ‘Divergent’ and ‘Hunger Games,’ and even the big blockbuster movies have incredible female leads showing that they can bring as much of a financial box office as anybody else,” she added. “I think just by what we do, talking about it, I think gradually… it’s about, with any change, it’s about bringing the subject up.”

“The Danish Girl,” starring Eddie Redmayne and Vikander, arrives in theaters this Friday.

9 Cisgender Actors Playing Transgender Characters in Film (Photos)

Hilary Swank in "Boys Don't Cry" (1999)
Swank plays real-life Brandon Teena, an American trans man who is beaten, raped and murdered by men after they discover he is transgender.
Fox Searchlight
Felicity Huffman in "Transamerica" (2005)
Huffman played a transgender woman who tried to reconnect with her estranged son, played by Kevin Zegers.
The Weinstein Company
Jared Leto in "Dallas Buyers Club" (2013)
Leto starred as an HIV positive, transgender woman in the film for which he won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 2014.
Focus Features
Chris Sarandon in "Dog Day Afternoon" (1975)
Sarandon played a pre-operative transsexual in the film, for which he won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
Warner Bros.
Tom Wilkinson in "Normal" (2003)
Wilkinson stars as Applewood, who after 25 years of marriage shocks his wife (Jessica Lange) when he tells her he wants to transition into a woman. He renames himself Ruth.
John Cameron Mitchell in "Hedwig & The Angry Inch" (2001)
Mitchell played Hansel Schmidt, an East German man who falls in love with an American man and they decide to marry so he can escape East Germany. However, the couple needs to consist of a man and a woman, so Schmidt undergoes gender reassignment surgery, but it gets botched.
New Line Cinema
John Lithgow in "The World According to Garp" (1982)
Lithgow played Roberta Muldoon, a former football player who transitions after being pro.
Warner Bros.
Jaye Davidson in "The Crying Game" (1992)
The now retired actor played trans woman Dil in the film, for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Miramax Films
Lee Pace in "Soldier's Girl" (2003)
Pace starred as Calpernia Addams in the film, based on a true story. Addams came out as a transgender woman during her last year in the military.
Showtime

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In light of Eddie Redmayne playing Lili Elbe, the first transgender woman to successful receive sex reassignment surgery, in ”The Danish Girl,“ TheWrap takes a look at 9 other actors who have taken on transgender roles

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9 Cisgender Actors Playing Transgender Characters in Film (Photos)

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