Russell Crowe doesn’t believe that acting roles for women necessarily dry up as they get older, rather, he believes that aging actresses don’t want to play their age.

Russell Crowe On Older Actresses

According to Crowe, the role of blatant sexism in Hollywood is overstated. In fact, the Noah actor thinks that there are ample roles for actors and actresses of all ages – if one is willing to play parts most suitable to his or her age.

“The best thing about the industry I’m in – movies – is that there are roles for people in all different stages of life,” Crowe said in an interview with Australian Women’s Weekly.“To be honest, I think you’ll find that the woman who is saying that (the roles have dried up) is the woman who at 40, 45, 48, still wants to play the ingénue, and can’t understand why she’s not being cast as the 21 year old.”

Crowe went on to claim that actresses like Meryl Streep and Helen Mirren, who’ve continued to have prolific acting careers into their 60s, would share his views on the matter.

“Meryl Streep will give you 10,000 examples and arguments as to why that’s bullshit, so will Helen Mirren, or whoever it happens to be,” said Crowe, referring to the idea of a dearth of parts. “If you are willing to live in your own skin, you can work as an actor. If you are trying to pretend that you’re still the young buck when you’re my age, it just doesn’t work.”

Crowe burst on to the scene in Hollywood in 2000’s Gladiator and has followed it up with a number of other memorable performances – from A Beautiful Mind and Cinderella Man to Les Miserables and Man of Steel. Crowe’s latest feature is The Water Diviner, in which he plays a man searching for his three missing sons.

“The point is, you do have to be prepared to accept that there are stages in life,” said Crowe. “So I can’t be the Gladiator forever.”