Game of Thrones star Lena Headey says she's lost roles for not flirting with casting directors in auditions

The actress reveals the shocking thing she was told early on in her career

Lena Headey, the actress behind Game of Thrones character Cersei Lannister, has said she lost out on roles for not flirting in her auditions

The actress was speaking to co-star Maisie Williams (who plays Arya Stark) in a new interview for Net-A-Porter's magazine The Edit when she described her experience of Hollywood sexism early on in her career.

She said: “When I was in my twenties, and doing a lot of audition tapes in the States, a casting director told me: 'The men take these tapes home and watch them and say, 'Who would you f*ck?'

“I’ve never played the game of going in [to auditions] and flirting; I’ve never done it.”

Heady went on to reveal she is glad to be a working actress in her 40s, saying: “I'm happier now I'm older, playing women who aren't expected to be beautiful. That pressure has gone for me. [Male] actors can be 'interesting,' but there's a real pressure on women to be beautiful and skinny.'

She believes women face obstacles in getting the respect they deserve, highlighting the point with a recent conversation she had with another woman in the industry.

“I was talking about this with another actress, and I said, 'Do you find that you have to say the same things seven times, whereas a man says it once and everyone listens?'

“Male counterparts can say the same thing [I just did] and everyone's like, 'Oh, that's a great idea' and I'm like, 'I just said that 19 times but you chose not to listen or take it on board,”' she said.

You can find the episode titles and plot details for Game of Thrones season seven's first three episodes here.

Game of Thrones returns to HBO on 16 July before arriving on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV the following evening (17 July).