Hollywood star Sarah Michelle Gellar has called for more women to be given starring roles in action movies.

The 27-year-old Buffy the Vampire Slayer star said that many of the top parts in movies were still being reserved for men.

Gellar made her comments during a visit to Dubai to promote her film The Grudge, shown as part of the Dubai International Film Festival.

"To this day, women do not get to open an action movie in the way that Tom Cruise can, or a comedy in the way that Jim Carrey can," she said during a DIFF press conference yesterday.

"Movies like The Grudge show that women can be box office hits. I think it's important to prove to the world that people want to see women in leading roles."

Gellar, whose other movies include Cruel Intentions, I Know What You Did Last Summer and Scream 2, has been catapulted into the Hollywood big time by the massive US box office success of The Grudge.

She said the warm reception to the film, directed and co-written by Takashi Shimizu of Japan, could encourage more Hollywood studios to look outside the United States when finding new projects even to the Middle East.

"Part of the reason I wanted to make The Grudge was that Asian films don't get enough recognition," she said.

"The Grudge was the first time that a Japanese film was remade for US audiences by a Japanese director.

"I hope its success will help to break down the barriers to new filmmakers from around the world.

"The more different types of film and the more different cultures you show on film the better. It means one less bridge we have to cross over."

Despite her success with The Grudge, Gellar added that she had no problem if people still linked her to long-running television series Buffy.

"I treasure my time with that show. I loved everything about playing that character. If people always associate me as a strong role model for women, that's great," she said.

"That role was so amazing, so perfect that I would never try to recreate it because nothing could top that character or that experience."

Gellar said that she was enjoying her visit to Dubai for the film festival, the first time she has been to the Middle East. "This is probably the most foreign place I've been to and it's great. I love cultures like this that have a lot of history and tradition," she said.