Emma Stone's male co-stars have taken lower salaries to match hers

Emma Stone is singing the praises of Hollywood's secret heroes who take pay cuts so actresses like her can take home an equal salary.

The Hollywood gender pay gap issue has been a hot topic for the past two years, with stars like Jennifer Lawrence, Patricia Arquette, and Geena Davis voicing their concerns about the salary differences between leading men and women.

The La La Land actress has spoken out about the controversy in the past but now she reveals some of her male co-stars have tried to help the cause by agreeing to take a lower salary.

"In my career so far, I've needed my male co-stars to take a pay cut so that I may have parity with them," she tells Out.com. "That's something they do for me because they feel it's what's right and fair. That's something that's also not discussed, necessarily - that our getting equal pay is going to require people to selflessly say, 'That's what's fair'.

"If my male co-star, who has a higher quote than me but believes we are equal, takes a pay cut so that I can match him, that changes my quote in the future and changes my life..."

However, Emma makes it clear the problem still exists at the studio level, because most actresses aren't considered on a par with their leading men.

"It's a difficult system because it depends on the kinds of films you're a part of, the size of your role, how much the movies make at the box office," she says. "And so much of that changes your pay throughout your career, so I go more to the blanket issue that women, in general, are making four fifths at best.

"We are all the same, we are all equal, we all deserve the same respect and the same rights. And that's really what I've been so grateful for with male co-stars - when I've been in a similar-size role in films, and it's been multiple people who have been really incredible and said, 'That's what I want to do. That's what's fair and what's right'."

Emma refused to name the generous guys who have taken less to get her a better wage, but her La La Land co-star Ryan Gosling and Aloha castmate Bradley Cooper have been among the men crying out for more parity in Hollywood.