Alicia Vikander: 'Brexit would have denied me film career'

Swedish actress Alicia Vikander believes she wouldn't have won an Oscar without Britain having European Union (EU) membership.

The U.K. has been a member of the EU since 1973, enabling people from other member countries to travel freely and work in the country without restrictions.

However all this looks set to change after Britons voted to leave the EU in June this year (16).

Alicia says that if Britain hadn't been a member when she was starting out as an actress, she wouldn't have won the roles that have seen her career thrive and win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress earlier this year (16).

"I am European," she tells PORTER magazine. "I grew up in a small country. Without it, I would not be where I am in my career - I wouldn't have been able to live with my three girlfriends in London."

Britain has become a major filmmaking hub, with numerous Hollywood productions including the Star Wars, Transformers and Marvel comic book movie franchises being made in the U.K.

And the 27-year-old star, who is dating Irish actor Michael Fassbender, 39, believes that if movie bosses had to pay extra for Europeans to work in the U.K., she would never have received her starmaking role as Kitty Alexandrovna Scherbackaya in Joe Wright's adaptation of classic Russian novel Anna Karenina.

"As a foreigner, I probably wouldn't have been cast in Anna Karenina if they'd had to pay for a working visa," she explains.

Referring to the forthcoming U.S. presidential election, which could see anti-immigration candidate Donald Trump elected, she says she hopes Americans will see Britain's exit from the EU, commonly dubbed 'Brexit', as a warning.

"I hope in America that it opens people's eyes that you can't just let things happen," she says. "You need to get involved."