A speech cost actress Patricia Arquette film roles

Actress Patricia Arquette claims her speech about fair pay at the 2015 Oscars lost her jobs. Photo / Getty

Actress Patricia Arquette says her fair pay speech at the 2015 Academy Awards has cost her film roles.

The Boyhood star used her Best Supporting Actress triumph last year to address wage equality.

Now she claims her outspoken views put filmmakers off hiring her.

"Really, before I said it, I knew there was gonna be some drama, because it would cost people money, but there are 33 million women and kids that are living in poverty in America, with a full-time working mum. So, we need to address this and we need to address this right away," Arquette told Entertainment Tonight.

"I knew that it could cost me a lot of jobs, because my industry would be part of these companies who would have to pay people more or fairly," she added.

"I've lost two movies because of that and I'm OK with that. One (film executive) said something very dumb that made it very obvious that was the reason. That person's been fired, not because of me; I think karma just came and threw a big rock at their head!"

A year on from her much-publicised Oscars moment Arquette conceded she would have worded her speech differently.

"Looking back, I think I would have worded what I said differently because part of the way I intended to say things was not taken that way. It made me really sad that I hurt people's feelings or they perceived that I meant things a certain way... (but) I would absolutely have said that and I would keep on saying that. This is an issue for families in America, so I was gonna say something about it," she said.

- AAP