17 Times Female Stars Of A Movie Or TV Show Were Arguably More Talented Or Qualified Than Their Male Costars…Then Got Paid Less
Fiyin Olowokandi
6 min read
Ashton Kutcher was paid three times as much as Natalie Portman in <i>No Strings Attached</i> — the same year he won a Razzie and she won an Oscar.
17 Times Female Stars Of A Movie Or TV Show Were Arguably More Talented Or Qualified Than Their Male Costars…Then Got Paid Less
1. For the highly anticipated upcoming Olivia Wilde film Don’t Worry Darling, Oscar-nominated actor Florence Pugh was reportedly paid $700,000.
Kevin Winter / Getty ImagesResponding to reports suggesting that she’d made $2 million less than Pratt for the second film, Howard said she was actually paid even less than that. Luckily, she said Pratt fought for her to have an equal salary for franchise-related opportunities like theme park rides.
Dee Cercone/Everett Collection3. For American Hustle, both Christian Bale and Bradley Cooper made $2.5 million upfront. Amy Adams made $1.25 million, despite also being a lead — she made as much as Jennifer Lawrence, who filmed for half the amount of time and was a much smaller character.
Francois Duhamel/Columbia Pictures / courtesy Everett CollectionAt the time, Cooper and Bale were both one-time Oscar nominees. Adams was a four-time nominee. Lawrence had been nominated twice and won once. Lawrence was arguably the biggest star at the time, as she was starring in the Hunger Games films.
Jason LaVeris / FilmMagic via Getty Images4. Viola Davis, an Oscar winner with 91 IMDb credits and one of the best actors of our generation, was reportedly paid less than John Cena, Sylvester Stallone, and Joel Kinnaman for Suicide Squad.
Clay Enos / Warner Bros. / courtesy Everett CollectionCena is a pro wrestler who didn’t start acting until 2006. Stallone is a huge name, but he only provided voice work and didn’t have to go to set. Joel Kinnaman is a fine actor, but he’s no Viola Davis, nor is he a big star or household name.
5. Emmy winner and four-time Oscar nominee Michelle Williams was paid $1,000 for reshoots for All the Money in the World (after Kevin Spacey was replaced as the lead). Her costar Mark Wahlberg’s resume was impressive too (he was an A-lister and two-time Oscar nominee), but he was paid $1.5 million — 150 times what Williams was.
Fabio Lovino / TriStar Pictures/ Courtesy Everett CollectionWahlberg later donated his salary to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund in Williams’ name.
6. Ellen Pompeo was paid less than Patrick Dempsey despite playing the titular character on Grey’s Anatomy. In early seasons, he made almost twice as much as her.
Ron Tom / ABC / courtesy Everett Collection“At one point, I asked for $5,000 more than him just on principle, because the show is Grey’s Anatomy and I’m Meredith Grey. They wouldn’t give it to me,” Pompeo said. After Dempsey left, Pompeo was able to secure a more lucrative deal.
7. Ashton Kutcher was paid three times as much as Natalie Portman for No Strings Attached — the same year she won an Oscar. She was already an Oscar nominee and had been acting since childhood. Kutcher won a Razzie that year for his performance in Killers and Valentine’s Day.
Paramount Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection8. For the first two seasons of The Crown, star Claire Foy, who played Queen Elizabeth, was paid less than Matt Smith, who played her husband, Prince Philip.
Alex Bailey / Netflix / Courtesy: Everett CollectionThe reason producers gave for why Smith made more was his recent Doctor Who fame. Over the course of their time on the series, Foy won two Emmys (and was nominated another time), and Smith won one. Foy was also nominated for two BAFTAs for her role, whereas Smith was nominated for none.
Steve Granitz / WireImage via Getty Images9. Kirsten Dunst was paid much less than Tobey Maguire for Spider-Man. Calling the difference “extreme,” Dunst said she didn’t realize how bad it was at the time. “I was just like, ‘Oh yeah, Tobey is playing Spider-Man.’ But you know who was on the cover of the second Spider-Man poster? Spider-Man and me.”
Columbia Pictures / courtesy Everett CollectionBoth Dunst and Maguire were successful actors since childhood, but Dunst had clearly had a much more prolific career, starring in The Bonfire of the Vanities, The Virgin Suicides, Interview with the Vampire, Bring It On, and Jumanji before Spider-Man.
Toni Anne Barson Archive / WireImage via Getty Images10. After a report claimed that Jessica Chastain made $7 million for The Martian while Matt Damon made $25 million, Chastain corrected the report, saying she made “less than a quarter of that in reality.” Meaning she made less than $1.75 million to Damon’s reported $25 million.
20th Century Fox/Courtesy Everett CollectionDamon’s actual salary may have been less than the reported $25 million, though Chastain did not correct his reported salary and was talking about a huge wage gap, so there was still a huge difference.
Mike Marsland / WireImage via Getty Images11. Julia Roberts was reportedly paid only $300,000 for Pretty Woman, despite being an Oscar nominee who played the titular “pretty woman.” And while her costar, Richard Gere, was an established star thanks to An Officer and a Gentleman, it had been almost a decade since his last major hit. He reportedly made millions to appear in Pretty Woman.
Buena Vista Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection12. Angelina Jolie reportedly made $10 million for her work in Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Costar Brad Pitt reportedly made $20 million.
20th Century Fox Film / Courtesy Everett CollectionBoth stars were probably at about equal standing, with one notable exception: Jolie was an Oscar winner.
Fotos International/Long Photography / Getty Images13. It’s been reported that Zoe Saldana only made $100,000 for her role in Guardians of the Galaxy. In contrast, Vin Diesel reportedly made millions to say “I am Groot.” Chris Pratt made $1.5 million, and Dave Bautista made about $1.4 million.
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Courtesy Everett CollectionPratt had yet to establish himself as a box office star, Vin Diesel only did voice work on the film, and Bautista was largely still known as a wrestler. Saldana, on the other hand, had proven box office success: she’d starred in Avatar (at the time, the highest-grossing film of all time), the Star Trek film series, and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
14. Karen Gillan actually reportedly made more than Saldana at $140,000, despite having a smaller role. Still, she made less than her male costars.
Jay Maidment/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection15. Charlize Theron was offered lower pay than Chris Hemsworth in the Snow White and the Hunstman sequel, leading her to ask for equal pay. While Hemsworth was a big star (having starred in Thor and The Avengers), Theron was an even bigger star, as an Oscar winner in the industry for two decades at that point.
Universal Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection16. Mayim Bialik, one of the most well-known stars of The Big Bang Theory, was paid $200,000 per episode in 2017 — along with Melissa Rauch. The other five main cast members (all male except one) were earning $1 million per episode at that point.
Michael Yarish / CBS / courtesy Everett CollectionThe other stars actually ended up taking a pay cut to support Bialik and Rauch, who were bumped up to $500,000 for the last two seasons— still $400,000 less than the other stars, though.
Emiley Schweich/Everett Collection17. And finally, Melissa McBride appears to make much less than Norman Reedus in The Walking Dead, despite having been the only other cast member there from the start. Reedus makes $1 million per episode, while McBride negotiated a $20 million contract for three years — which amounts to just over $400,000 per episode, assuming 16-episode seasons.
Priscilla Grant/Everett CollectionThis is less, too, than Andrew Lincoln made in his time on the show. Female costar Lauren Cohan was also low-balled in contract negotiations. While Cohan and McBride are perhaps not any more qualified than Reedus or Lincoln, they were in about the same standing before the show and don’t merit less pay.
What other female stars have been paid or offered wayyy too little? Let us know in the comments!
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