She is one of Hollywood’s most famous and respected actors, known for her starring roles in The Silence of the Lambs, the Accused and Taxi Driver.

Now Jodie Foster has thrown her considerable reputation behind the protests against President Donald Trump being planned at Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony.

Foster, herself an Oscar winner, told demonstrators protesting against the President’s proposed travel ban on people from seven mainly Muslim countries that it is "our time to resist".

Speaking at a rally outside the Beverly Hills headquarters of United Talent Agency (UTA), which cancelled its Oscars party to stage the protest, she said: "I'm not somebody who feels very comfortable using my public face for activism.

"This year is a very different year and it's time to show up. It's the singular time in history. It's time to engage.

"We know the first attack on democracy is an assault on free expression and civil liberties and this relentless war on truth. Unfortunately it's too familiar because history repeats itself.”