The disparity of pay between genders has been a long-standing issue within the working world - with high-profile actors one of the most vocal industry taking the problem to task. However, Carey Mulligan has recently revealed she felt "too lucky" to query the difference between herself and male co-stars at the beginning of her career.

Carey MulliganCarey Mulligan has been speaking at Cannes Film Festival

Speaking to an audience at Cannes Film Festival, the Suffragette star said she felt "completely overwhelmed" when she started in the acting world and, subsequently, didn’t question what may have been unfair payment.

The British actress said: "I think I probably felt lucky to be there.

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"I felt so completely overwhelmed at the beginning of my film career, I felt like 'I should be paying you guys.'

The mother-of-two said she was now more "mindful" about "being treated fairly".

She added: "I think people won’t tolerate it anymore.

"I probably wasn't aware of it before, but now we're all aware and we can be proactive about it."

Mulligan - who has starred in big budget films such as The Great Gatsby and Drive - was appearing at the first Cannes Film Festival since the explosion of the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements.

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Speaking about how she felt as a woman in the film industry, the 32-year-old said: "Very often I felt my voice didn't matter as much as [those of] the men around me, because I was female.

"Young actresses coming up now will feel stronger and better because of what's happening at the moment and feel that what they say matters."

Mulligan is in Cannes to promote Wildlife, an adaptation of Richard Ford's 1990 novel about a marital breakdown in 1960s America.

In the film, co-written and directed by actor Paul Dano, she plays a wife and mother whose marriage disintegrates after she has an affair.