Lena Headey has become quite the feminist figure in Hollywood, whether she intended to or not. Her strong characters, including the evil but powerful Cersei Lannister in 'Game Of Thrones', coupled with her tenacious personality have made her a massive role model for young female actors - and, indeed, young girls all round.

Lena Headey at the 'Game of Thrones' season 6 premiereLena Headey at the 'Game of Thrones' season 6 premiere

Unfortunately, it is still a fact in this day and age that many emerging actresses are forced to get their roles not through their natural talent, but through using their sexuality to essentially pay for it. 43-year-old Lena Headey reveals how that's something that she never wanted to do, even if it meant losing out on roles. She wanted to change this 'boys club' theme from the beginning.

'You grow up in it, and you learn to infiltrate it', she told the New York Times, who added that she 'faced pressure to sleep with powerful men'.

'I never played the game', she said. However, she still learnt that her value as an artist meant little in some of the jobs she took before her major breaks. On 2008's 'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles', for example, she confessed, 'My voice was very quickly ignored and my opinions were very much not wanted.'

That's what makes 'Game of Thrones' so special, though. It's all about abused and broken females rising to the top - Cersei, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner), Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) and others - whether for better or for worse.

'Having all of these females rise, in all their different guises - it's sort of unheard-of, really', Lena muses. They are certainly storylines that empower women, and show them in a strong and formidable light - something that Lena wants for her own daughter, Teddy, who is 2-years-old today (July 10th 2017).

More: Check out the 'Game of Thrones' cast singing 'I Will Survive'

'I want my daughter to have a good voice and to use it', she told her co-star Maisie in Net-A-Porter's Edit magazine. 'To not feel restricted by being a woman in any way, to make her choices freely.'