Inequality in Hollywood has been long prevalent. Various analyses of different actors in hundreds of movies from the 20th century to date indicate that discrimination does play a role in Hollywood salaries. While we see our favorite stars leading the most glamorous lives, they too at work face many of the same challenges as other workplaces like bias and inequality. Thanks to the changing times, this problem of pay disparity has started getting acknowledged as people realize that women work equally hard as men and settle for significantly lesser pay while having even more responsibilities. According to a census, male Hollywood stars earn $1.1m more per film than their similarly experienced female co-stars.
The following accounts below depict how sometimes, it’s just a man’s world, and that the recent International Women’s Day could be more of manifestation rather than a celebration as it is most likely to still be a tough journey to equality and fairness.
Gillian Anderson Got Offered Only Half Of David Duchovny’s Pay For The New X-Files
Gillian Anderson who played Dana Scully, a medic and FBI partner to David Duchovny’s Fox Mulder, struggled for three years after the show first premiered in 1993 to receive comparable income. The two were eventually paid the same, but the fact that it had to be negotiated is sad.
Angelina Jolie Made Half What Brad Pitt Did For Mr. And Mrs. Smith
Angelina Jolie, 45, and Brad Pitt, 57, were both gigantic stars when they made an appearance together in 2005’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith. However, Brad took home roughly $20 million for his part while Jolie settled for only half of that.
Ellen Pompeo In Grey’s Anatomy Was Denied Higher Pay Than Patrick Dempsey
Pompeo has revealed that she never always wanted to play the titular character on Grey’s Anatomy and in the early seasons of the series, her co-star Patrick Dempsey was being paid nearly twice what she was at the time.
Charlize Theron Made $10 Million Less Than Chris Hemsworth In The Huntsman
When Charlize Theron realized she was making $10 million less than her male counterpart, Chris Hemsworth, in The Huntsman: Winter’s War, she insisted that she get paid the same money as him for the prequel Snow White and The Huntsman.
Natalie Portman Got Paid Three Times Less Than Ashton Kutcher For No Strings Attached
“I wasn’t as pissed as I should have been. I mean, we get paid a lot, so it’s hard to complain, but the disparity is crazy,” Portman said in a Marie Claire U.K. interview. “Compared to men, in most professions, women make 80 cents to the dollar. In Hollywood, we are making 30 cents to the dollar.”
Jennifer Lawrence And Amy Adams Received 7% Of The Profits From American Hustle When Bradley Cooper, Christian Bale, And Jeremy Renner Got 9%
Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams were equally if not even more famous than their American Hustle co-stars Jeremy Renner, Christian Bale, and Bradley Cooper. Yet, the men made 9% of the film’s profits (which was $150 million, according to Box Office Mojo) while the women only got 7%.
Meryl Streep Has Earned Less Than Male Actors Throughout Her Career
Hollywood’s one of the most iconic, Meryl Streep, spoke about sexism women face in the film industry and quoted “Women’s issues are men’s issues”. She revealed that she has been underpaid throughout her career.
Michelle Williams Received Less Than 1% Compared To What Mark Wahlberg Did In All The Money In The World
Michelle Williams expressed her disappointment over the huge gap in pay compared to Mark Wahlberg for reshoots on All the Money in the World where she was paid an $80 per diem totaling less than $1,000.
Kathy Griffin Had The Second-Lowest Salary In The Cast Of Suddenly Susan
Although Kathy Griffin was a new member of the show Suddenly Susan, she discovered that not only was she the second-lowest-paid member of the cast, but also that Judd Nelson made four times what she made.
Amanda Seyfried Received 10% Less Than What Her Fellow Male Actor Got
In an interview to a newspaper, Amanda disclosed “A few years ago, on one of my big-budget films, I found I was being paid 10% of what my male co-star was getting, and we were pretty even in status.”
Diane Keaton Ended Up Not Receiving A Big Part Of The Pay For Something’s Gotta Give
Something’s Gotta Give definitely gave Jack Nicholson a full-fat paycheck rather than adequately rewarding his female co-star Diane Keaton. Allegedly, Nicholson shared the payback with his co-star to make it even.
Robin Wright Had To Negotiate Her Pay In House Of Cards When Kevin Spacey Was One Of The Highest-Paid Actors On TV
Robin Wright made headlines when she stated she wasn’t being paid the same as costar Kevin Spacey in House Of Cards. In an interview with Judith Rodin, the president of The Rockefeller Foundation, Wright told she put it to the producers that she wants to be paid the same as Kevin.”
Hilary Swank’s Male Co-Stars Got 10 Times More Than Her For The Same Job
Hilary Swank reported that she was once offered $9.5 million less than her male costar. Not even being a two-time Oscar winner was enough to keep her from experiencing the Hollywood pay gap firsthand. “He got offered $10 million, and I got offered $500,000,” Hillary said.
Sienna Miller Would Have Gotten Half Of What Another Actor Was Going To Make
Sienna Miller shared in an interview with Empire magazine that Chadwick Boseman took money out of his salary to ensure she received equal pay on their 2019 crime thriller “21 Bridges.”
Rooney Mara Made Half Of What Male Actors Ended Up Making In Several Movies
“I’ve been in films where I’ve found out my male co-star got paid double what I got paid, and it’s just a reality of the time that we live in,” she told the Guardian. “To me, it’s frustrating, but at the same time, I’m just grateful to be getting paid at all for what I do.”
Amy Adams Got Much Less Compared To Male Actors In American Hustle
Soon after the release of American Hustle, word broke that Amy Adams was paid significantly lesser than her male counterparts. “Everyone wanted me to talk about how I felt about it, but I want to fight for people outside our industry, so to come out and look ungrateful about what I’m paid as an actress just didn’t feel right,” Adams told The Telegraph.
Catt Sadler Was Getting Two Times Less Than Her Co-Host Jason Kennedy
E! News reporter Catt Sadler handed her notice and vacated her job after she learned that her co-host Jason Kennedy was earning twice as much as her. Her demand for an appraisal was turned down by E! after which she quoted “How can I remain silent when my rights under the law have been violated?”.
Jessica Chastain Only Made A Quarter Of What Her Reported Salary For The Martian Was
The Academy Award nominee, Jessica Chastain told in 2015 that she earned less than $2 million to co-star in The Martian with Matt Damon, who took home $18 million. She now claims to handle the situations of negotiations earnestly and even lost one major role due to her new negotiating tactics.
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