'Lord Of The Rings' Star Accuses Afghanistan, Iran Of 'Gender Apartheid'

Nazanin Boniadi scored her first big role as Leyla Mir in the drama General Hospital almost 15 years ago.

Since then, she's been using her fame to stand up for people who haven't had a voice.

This is one of those times.

The star of Amazon Prime's new Lord of the Rings series urged the world to support the protests in her native Iran that are asking for women's rights and political change.

According to Boniadi, nothing terrifies the ruling class in Iran and Afghanistan "more than a free and politically active woman."

She even went as far of accusing Afghanistan and Iran of committing "gender apartheid" with their oppressive policies targeting women, saying:

These systems of oppressing women, of dehumanizing women, are based on strengthening and keeping these entrenched systems of power in place. So we have to legally recognize this as gender apartheid in order to be able to overcome it.

"The thing that is unprecedented is we’re seeing 12-year-old girls, schoolgirls, come out into the streets saying, ‘We don’t want an Islamic Republic,'" Boniadi continued. "The courage that takes is astounding. And that courage has been contagious."