Zoe Saldana just explained how her race determines which film roles she can audition for

And it's not OK.

Zoe Saldana is one of the most influential women in Hollywood, starring in Avatar, Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Trek.

But according to the sci fi star, her acting career has been an uphill battle, taking the moment to speak out about the challenges and discrimination she has faced this month.

The 39-year-old opened up in a recent interview with Cosmopolitan about how her first major film experience in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl left her feeling ‘a little bitter’ due to the ‘super elitist’ environment’, and this week she has elaborated even further.

In a new interview with Porter, the star got real about discrimination, explaining how her skin colour actually held her back when she first got into acting.

‘Every time I read a script, even if it was a period piece, I read it thinking that I was going to go after the lead role,’ the actress explained. ‘It wasn’t until I would come across the introduction of a supporting ethnic role that I realized, “Oh.”’

She continued: ‘I wasn’t even allowed to try to get that main role, because “they want to go traditional on the part.” I would hang up on that conversation from my agents, thinking, “What about me is non-traditional”? It was a very hard pill to swallow.’

‘In my country, where I pledged allegiance every day since I was five, to be told when I’m out there trying to pursue my American dream that I was not a traditional American was very hurtful,’ she explained.

‘I will never accept that I am not a traditional anything. I come from where I come from, I can’t change that, and you come from where you come from. But if you tell me that where you come from is the only right place, and therefore I don’t fit that traditional mould, let’s just establish, very clearly, that you are the one who’s wrong. Because everything about me and where I come from is just as right.’

Yes, Zoe Saldana!