Nia Vardalos, writer and star of My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, has said that she aims for "parity" when writing screenplays, even giving the female characters some of her best lines.

"As a writer it's an absolutely conscious decision to create strong roles for women," she told the Radio Times. "Every woman is struggling because there's a dearth of roles in Hollywood. I can't complain, I just have to keep writing."

Vardalos said that she enjoys being able to act the roles she writes, along with the freedom of being able to say what she wants.

"I try to make the male roles fleshed out, but I make it so that the females have arcs, characters and strong things to play as well. What I'm trying to achieve is parity... men and women we can all work together. Normally screenplays have 17 men and one woman, and she usually dies by the second act," said Vardalos in an interview with ITN.

"Nobody dies and we don't squish the men away so that the women have big arcs – everybody gets to say something," she added.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 opens in UK cinemas on 25 March.

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