An Egyptian actor in terrorist movie Syriana has praised Hollywood, saying it now portrays Arabs more accurately.

Amr Waked plays a terrorist boss preparing men to be suicide bombers in the film, for which George Clooney has a Golden Globe nomination.

He said previously he had refused parts in terrorist films which were unfair to the Middle East, but that Syriana is "very courageous."

"The one thing that really mattered for me is how the Arabs are portrayed," explained Waked. "Are we just terrorists in the film or not?"

The film – made by Stephen Caghan – has an Arab character striving for reform, he said, and it looks at peoples' motivations.

"Stephen is trying to show how humans are victims of the system," says Waked. "The human being is a victim of the system and the system is malicious."

However, he told Reuters, Hollywood "has many steps to take before they tell the truth of the Middle East for real."