Neve Campbell, Priyanka Chopra & More Actresses Who Called Out Low Pay For Their Roles

By Corey Atad. 16 Mar 2023 3:10 PM

Celebs haver been getting more and more candid about being stiffed when it comes to paydays on Hollywood movies.

Photo Cr: Brownie Harris/Paramount Pictures

Courtesy of Prime Video

Photo: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Photo: Pablo Cuadra/Getty Images

Image credit: Netflix

Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

START OVER

Next Gallery: Cancelled Or Renewed?

More Galleries

1 of 9

Neve Campbell
Photo Cr: Brownie Harris/Paramount Pictures
After appearing in every movie of the "Scream" franchise so far, star Neve Campbell decided to walk away from the recently released "Scream VI" after pay negotiations went nowhere.

"I felt the offer that was presented to me did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise," she said at the time.

Melissa Barrera, who plays Sam Carpenter in the latest films in the series, defended Campbell's decision.

"It was shocking, but also, as a woman, I get it. Especially as a woman of colour, I deal with that stuff all the time where I feel like they’re not paying me what I know that I’m worth," Barrera told Variety. "But usually for me, I feel like it’s because I’m a Latina, and they don’t value us as much as white women. So if Neve being a white woman is feeling undervalued, that just goes to show how much of a problem it is in the industry. I applaud her sticking to what she believes in."
Priyanka Chopra
Courtesy of Prime Video
Appearing at SXSW in 2023 to promote her new thriller series "Citadel", Priyanka Chopra revealed that it was the first time she had received equal pay to her male co-star.

“I might get into trouble for saying this, depends on who’s watching. I’ve been working in the entertainment industry for now 22 years, and I have done almost 70-plus features and two TV shows. But when I did Citadel, it was the first time in my career that I had pay parity. I’m laughing about this, but it’s kind of nuts," she said.
Pamela Anderson
Photo: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
In 2017's "Baywatch", Pamela Anderson made a small cameo appearance, but it turned out she wasn't happy about it.

"There was just so much bullying to do it. They wanted me to do it for free, as an homage or something. I said, ‘Come on, guys. I mean, really?’" she told Variety.

She also revealed the time that her compensation for the original "Baywatch" TV series wasn't what it should have been.

"The producers of Baywatch made a fortune. I just didn’t have the representation back then. Or the know-how," Anderson explained. "You don’t realize when you’re doing a TV show that it’s going to be that popular, so you kind of sign your life away."
Chris Pratt & Bryce Dallas Howard
Photo: Pablo Cuadra/Getty Images
On the "Jurassic World" franchise, Chris Pratt had co-star Bryce Dallas Howard's back when it came to pay.

"What I will say is that Chris and I have discussed it, and whenever there was an opportunity to move the needle on stuff that hadn’t been already negotiated, like a game or a ride, he literally told me, ‘You guys don’t even have to do anything. I’m gonna do all the negotiating. We’re gonna be paid the same and you don’t have to think about this, Bryce,'" the actress revealed to Insider.
Claire Foy
Image credit: Netflix
After starring as Queen Elizabeth in the first two seasons of "The Crown", it was revealed that Claire Foy's payday was actually lower than that of co-star Matt Smith, who played Prince Philip.

The revelation led to changes for future seasons of the show.

“I’m surprised because I’m at the centre of it, and anything that I’m at the centre of like that is very very odd, and feels very very out of ordinary,” Foy told EW in 2018. “But I’m not [surprised about the interest in the story] in the sense that it was a female-led drama. I’m not surprised that people saw [the story] and went, ‘Oh, that’s a bit odd.’ But I know that Matt feels the same that I do, that it’s odd to find yourself at the center [of a story] that you didn’t particularly ask for.”
Jennifer Lawrence
Image credit: Niko Tavernise / Netflix © 2021
Jennifer Lawrence didn't mind getting paid less than Leonard DiCaprio while co-starring with him in "Don't Look Up", though she still fights for pay that reflects her value.

"Look, Leo brings in more box office than I do. I'm extremely fortunate and happy with my deal," she told Vanity Fair in 2021. "But in other situations, what I have seen — and I'm sure other women in the workforce have seen as well — is that it's extremely uncomfortable to inquire about equal pay. And if you do question something that appears unequal, you're told it's not gender disparity but they can't tell you what exactly it is."

In 2015, after the Sony leaks revealed just how much more her male co-stars were making, Lawrence penned an essay calling out the disparities.
Michelle Williams
Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
Speaking on Capitol Hill for Equal Pay Day in 2019, Michelle Williams said she was "paralyzed in feelings of futility" after it was revealed that on the film "All the Money in the World", she had been payed only $1,000 for reshoots, while co-starMark Wahlberg was paid $1.5 million for the additional filming.

"There won't be satisfaction for me until I can exhaust my efforts ensuring that all women experience the elevation of their self-worth and its connection to the elevation of their market worth," Williams said in the fiery speech at the U.S. Capitol.
Jessica Chastain
Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
In a 2017 interview with Town & Country, Jessica Chastain spoke out about the issue of pay disparity for women in Hollywood.

“If I’m in a situation where I have equal experience to the actor and my role is just as significant, there is no reason why I should be paid less,” she said “It’s not really part of my world anymore, because I just won’t accept it.”
Patricia Arquette
Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
When she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 2015 for her role in "Boyhood", Patricia Arquette used the moment to highlight the gender gap in wages.

“To every woman who gave birth to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else’s equal rights,” she said in her acceptance speech. “It’s our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America.”

Neve Campbell, Priyanka Chopra & More Actresses Who Called Out Low Pay For Their Roles

More Galleries

Latest Galleries