Halle Berry has played a lot of kick-ass women over the course of her long acting career, from Storm in X-Men to Jinx Johnson in Die Another Day. In her latest film, Kidnap, she plays Karla Dyson, a woman who sets out to rescue her son after he is snatched from a park in New Orleans.

Berry, who has two children, recently spoke to Variety about her new role. The Oscar-winning actress said that she was drawn to the part of Dyson in part because she is a mother herself – but also because she wanted to help rectify the lack of black female heroes onscreen.

“I love seeing a woman, and a woman of colour, get to save the day,” she said. “Men save the day all the time in movies and it’s nice to see a woman do what I know women can do.”

Berry’s comments are backed up by research. Female protagonists appear in just 3% of action movies, according to a study published earlier this year, while less than a quarter of all female film characters are black, Asian or Latina.

Halle Berry on why her latest film role is her most significant yet