15 Actors who were underpaid compared to their co-stars

Being underpaid as an actor in Hollywood is not breaking news. While Hollywood actors have been on stage for many decades, the norm of underpaying one actor more or less than the other has always existed with them. Actors have had to voice their concerns about such disparities. Incidents and campaigns like the Sony Pictures hack or Time's Up made it far easier to stand up about this because the issue was more out in the open. Actresses, especially women of color in the industry, suffered and are continuously suffering from discrimination regarding wages. Over the years, however, several celebrities like Viola Davis, Jennifer Lawrence, Octavia Spencer, Meryl Streep, and the like have shouted from the rooftops about the issue.

Here is a list of 15 actors who were underpaid compared to their co-stars.

15) Hilary Swank (Boys Don't Cry)

This performance earned Hilary Swank the Oscar for Best Actress for Boys Don't Cry in 1999, but at that time, she was so financially strapped and underpaid as an actor that she could hardly afford health insurance. Swank revealed on Chelsea Handler's Netflix show, Chelsea, that there was a time when she had an Academy Award but no health insurance. She recalled when she had made just $3,000 and needed $5,000 to be eligible for health insurance.

14) Chris Hemsworth (Thor)

The Marvel movie that paid Chris Hemsworth the most, about $20 million in earnings, was Thor: Love and Thunder in 2022. However, while making his debut as Thor, he received $150,000, $10,000 less than Tom Hiddleston received for the 2011 blockbuster Thor, which grossed around $450 million worldwide, becoming an underpaid actor than his co-star.

13) Zoe Saldana (Guardians of the Galaxy)

Zoe Saldana is thought to be one of the least-paid actors in the first Guardians of the Galaxy film, earning around $100,000 for her role as Gamora. At the same time, Karen Gillan and Chris Pratt made significantly more, with earnings of $140,000 and $350,000, respectively. In 2018, she expressed her disappointment and disgust toward the discrimination regarding pay disparity on Instagram. That's not the case anymore. As of 2024, Saldana is one of the highest-grossing actresses in Hollywood.

12) Carrie Fisher (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

According to reports, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill reportedly received a small portion of a seven-figure paycheck for reprising their General Leia and Luke Skywalker roles in The Force Awakens. In contrast, Harrison Ford earned significantly more, landing in the eight figures for his return as Han Solo. The new actors like Daisy Ridley were paid even less.

11) Diane Keaton (Something's Gotta Give)

This film garnered the Golden Globe award for Keaton in the leading role. But that did not quite do much for her salary. In her autobiography, Then Again, she recollects that she did not quite get the back-end deal on this rom-com while her co-star, Jack Nicholson, who played a supporting role, did. She was disappointed but not surprised. Keaton also wrote about how Nicholson paid a huge check from his back-end deals after the movie was released, surprising her.

10) Natalie Portman (No Strings Attached)

Natalie Portman has always spoken against gender discrimination and the gender pay gap in Hollywood, as she has been a victim of the gender pay gap. In a 2017 interview with Marie Claire U.K., the Academy Award-winning actress revealed that Ashton Kutcher earned more than three times her salary for the movie, citing his projected worth, making her an underpaid actor. Portman is one of the initial endorsers of the Time's Up Foundation and has been vocal about the injustice and inequity that women face in the Hollywood industry.

9) Kim Cattrall (Sex And The City)

Many believe the reason behind the feud between Kim Cattrall and her co-star, Sarah Jessica Parker, stemmed from the pay disparity. Reports indicated that Parker earned between $15 million and $20 million for the first and second movies, while Cattrall received only $7 million and $10 million, respectively. It became a huge deal as Cattrall's character was a fan favorite. Still, the actor was underpaid compared to her co-star.

8) Taraji P. Henson (The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button)

She was one of the best actress nominees at the Academy for portraying Quinee in this movie. Still, according to her memoir, Around the Way Girl, she reportedly only earned less than 2% of what Brad Pitt made while covering her room and board during shooting. Henson also revealed she was in a tight spot as she could neither bargain nor refuse the offer, as the studio could have easily replaced her.

7) Ellen Pompeo (Grey's Anatomy)

Ellen Pompeo became the highest-paid TV actress in 2018. It was not the same in the past; back in 2019, she shared that she has always been paid less than her co-star, Patrick Dempsey, in the show's first three seasons. It also created a huge pay gap between the co-stars. Pompeo revealed in an article in The Hollywood Reporter how her co-star Patrick Dempsey initially refused to negotiate for equal pay for her. It took her 14 years to stand up for herself and fight against the age-old pay disparity in Hollywood.

6) Robin Wright (House Of Cards)

After learning that disparity existed between her salary and co-star Kevin Spacey, she urged equal pay. She portrayed the role of Claire Underwood in the show and even won a Golden Globe award. It still took years for the Wonder Woman actress to get her rates commuted.

5) Claire Foy (The Crown)

Claire Foy is yet another actress who is undervalued despite being the lead protagonist in a series and yet could not break the cycle of the gender pay gap. Foy played the role of Queen Elizabeth and was paid less than her onscreen husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, played by Matt Smith. Since the case came into the limelight, Netflix has also been checking into other salaries.

4) Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man)

Robert Downey Jr. is now regarded as the highest-paid actor among all the Avengers. However, in the first movie in the Iron Man series in 2008, he was paid only $500,000 as opposed to the $3.5 million earned by Terrence Howard, who acted as War Machine in the movie. The reason behind that was the risk factor of hiring him because of his complicated past, which made the Marvel Studios reluctant.

3) Gillian Anderson (The X Files)

The X Files is one of the most critically acclaimed shows from the '90s. However, when it came to paying the male and female lead, it took the classic Hollywood route of paying the female lead less than the male. As the female lead, Gillian Anderson spoke about the unfairness of being underpaid at length. She even refused to be a part of the reboot as the production company tried to pay her less than her co-star David Duchovny again.

2) Michelle Williams (All The Money In The World)

According to reports, Michelle Williams was paid less than a thousand dollars for the same reshoots that Mark Wahlberg was paid $1.5 million for. This infamous case highlighted the gender pay gap in Hollywood. Williams revealed that she was ready to do the reshoots with modest compensation so that the film could be released. However, at that time, she was unaware she was being underpaid compared to her co-star.

1) Jessica Chastain (The Martian)

One more unfortunate example of the Hollywood pay gap came to light with the pay of actors- Jessica Chastain and Matt Damon, who starred together in The Martian, released in 2015. The actress revealed that she earned less than a quarter of what was paid to Damon, who earned between $15-$20 million on the film. The disappointment and frustration caused by being an underpaid actor because of gender discrimination made Chastain decide never to work with people who didn't pay her equally as her co-stars.