Ashton Kutcher was paid a lot more than Natalie Portman for 'No Strings Attached'

Natalie Portman has revealed that Ashton Kutcher was paid three times as much as her for their 2011 movie, No Strings Attached.

The actress, who won an Oscar for her role in 2010s Black Swan, spoke about the "crazy" pay disparity in Hollywood in Marie Claire UK.

"Ashton Kutcher was paid three times as much as me on No Strings Attached," she said.

Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman star in the film, No Strings Attached.

"I knew and I went along with it because there's this thing with 'quotes' in Hollywood. His [quote] was three times higher than mine so they said he should get three times more.

"I wasn't as pissed as I should have been. I mean, we get paid a lot, so it's hard to complain, but the disparity is crazy."

Portman - who told the magazine that women in Hollywood are making 30 cents to the dollar compared to their male counterparts - is so passionate about the issue that she demanded a woman be chosen to direct her upcoming movie, On the Basis of Sex.

In the film, Portman will play Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg who in 1993 became just the second woman to be appointed to the United States Supreme Court.

"I don't think women and men are more or less capable [as directors], we just have a clear issue with women not having opportunities," she said to Marie Claire.

"We need to be part of the solution, not perpetuating the problem. As this story is specifically about gender discrimination, I was like, 'How dare we not hire a female.'"

Natalie Portman stars in the film, Jackie.

Portman is expected to pick up an Oscar nomination for her latest role as Jackie Kennedy in Jackie, which hits NZ cinemas tomorrow (January 12).