Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has said he simply cannot understand why there is such a pay gap between men and women in Hollywood.

The actor made the comments in an interview to the Australian Daily Telegraph, saying: “It’s nuts to me”.

He added that he was glad a debate around the pay gap had been revived last year, “because I had just fucking naively thought this was not an issue any more. Because how can this still be happening?”

The star added: “It’s crazy. It is definitely the time for our industry to step up. Especially if we want to pride ourselves on being a liberal, progressive industry then you can’t be doing that.”

Radcliffe responded to the revelation that stars like Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams were paid less than male co-stars in American Hustle, saying it is just “shocking”.

“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 fuck the girls out of some money?’”

As well as simply a difference in pay between male and female actors, Radcliffe also said a lack of substantial female roles was also to blame.

The star said that he had noted a small but positive difference since last year.

He added: “I just did a film with Toni Collette… and she’s fucking bad-ass in this film, and it’s a fucking awesome role.”

“I feel like that was made long before a lot of this stuff was talked about. Its release was very timely, but it was made long before this was a hot topic.

“It’s very cool, and I feel like there’s such a wealth of amazing actresses in the world right now and we’ve got to start writing better parts for them and paying them equally.”