23 Actresses Who’ve Spoken Out About the Gender Pay Gap
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Although we like to think a celebrity’s life is all glitz and glamour, the truth is that being an actor can have all the same hassles as any other job. Over the years, for example, many actresses have used their platform to speak out against the staggering gender pay gaps and sexism they’ve encountered in the industry.
Back in 2015, Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence became one of the faces of the movement when she bravely spoke out about the salary disparities in American Hustle alongside Christian Bale and Bradley Cooper. “If I’m honest with myself, I would be lying if I didn’t say there was an element of wanting to be liked that influenced my decision to close the deal without a real fight. I didn’t want to seem ‘difficult’ or ‘spoiled,'” Lawrence admitted in a personal essay, per Glamour. “At the time, that seemed like a fine idea, until I saw the payroll on the Internet and realized every man I was working with definitely didn’t worry about being ‘difficult’ or ‘spoiled.'”
Lawrence’s words resonated with women all over the world. The truth is, women have been conditioned to be afraid to speak out, afraid to fight for their rights and needs, until, well, the cycle continues. But, if Hollywood is any example, actresses have been paving the way for a fairer, more equitable future.
See below what other actresses have been brave enough to speak out about the gender pay gap.
This story was originally published in 2017.
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Olivia Colman
Olivia Colman recently opened up about how pay disparity has remained so present in Hollywood over the years.
“Don’t get me started on the pay disparity, but male actors get paid more because they used to say they drew in the audiences,” the Oscar winner said in a recent appearance on The Amanpour Hour, per Us Weekly. “And actually, that hasn’t been true for decades but they still like to use that as a reason to not pay women as much as their male counterparts.”
“Research suggests that [women] were always big box office draws,” she added. But, with Hollywood execs not picking up on that, the disparity continues. “I’m very aware that if I was Oliver Colman, I’d be earning a f– of a lot more than I am,” The Crown star added.
Taraji P. Henson
Taraji P. Henson is the latest Black actress to open up about the injustices she’s faced in her career. “I’m just tired of working so hard, being gracious at what I do [and] getting paid a fraction of the cost,” Henson said in a recent interview with SiriusXM. “I’m tired of hearing my sisters say the same thing over and over. You get tired. I hear people go, ‘You work a lot.’ Well, I have to.”
Henson, who’s received many accolades in her career, then explained that having those titles hasn’t brought much to the negotiating table. “Every time I do something and break another glass ceiling, when it’s time to renegotiate I’m at the bottom again like I never did what I just did,” she said. “It wears on you. What does that mean? What is that telling me?”
Jennifer Lawrence
In 2015, Lawrence wrote an essay about making less than her male co-stars in the Lenny newsletter.
In the essay, the Oscar winner opened up about not knowing how to negotiate her salary, and how that has deeply affected how little she gets paid compared to her male counterparts. “If I’m honest with myself, I would be lying if I didn’t say there was an element of wanting to be liked that influenced my decision to close the deal without a real fight,” she wrote. “I didn’t want to seem ‘difficult’ or ‘spoiled.’ At the time, that seemed like a fine idea, until I saw the payroll on the Internet and realized every man I was working with definitely didn’t worry about being ‘difficult’ or ‘spoiled.'”
“I’m over trying to find the ‘adorable’ way to state my opinion and still be likable! F— that,” she added. “I don’t think I’ve ever worked for a man in charge who spent time contemplating what angle he should use to have his voice heard. It’s just heard. Jeremy Renner, Christian Bale, and Bradley Cooper all fought and succeeded in negotiating powerful deals for themselves. If anything, I’m sure they were commended for being fierce and tactical, while I was busy worrying about coming across as a brat and not getting my fair share.”
Dakota Johnson
Following Lawrence’s essay, Madame Web star Dakota Johnson shared some support. “I thought it was great,” Johnson told E! News. “She’s a bold woman, and I appreciate that. I think that it’s a good time for changes to be made in the way women are treated in Hollywood.”
Amy Schumer
Amy Schumer also backed up Lawrence. “First of all she’s the best, and I’m so proud of her,” Schumer told E! News. “I thought that was so badass. I of course support wage equality and all equality, but if we just raise the minimum wage…that would take care of everybody.”
Amy Adams
Amy Adams also shared her support for Lawrence. “I’m really proud of Jennifer,” she told British GQ. “What I liked is that it was not necessarily about getting paid, or not getting paid… It’s like we [women] have been conditioned to not be controversial, to not cause problems. It’s about finding your voice.”
Adams then went on to say that she’s known she makes less than her male counterparts, but sometimes negotiating just isn’t enough. “I didn’t speak about it before and I’m probably not going to speak about it forever, because I disagreed with… not Jennifer per se, but people who had opinions on how women should go about negotiating. The truth is we hire people to negotiate on our behalf, men and women…” she told the outlet. “I knew I was being paid less and I still agreed to do it because the option comes down to do it or don’t do it. So you just have to decide if it’s worth it for you. It doesn’t mean I liked it.”
Carey Mulligan
Carey Mulligan went on to defend Lawrence from any critics.
“Sure, there’s been cynicism toward her speaking out and the fact that she makes a lot of money, but she is completely and selflessly rising above that,” Mulligan told Deadline. “[The discrepancy] is inherently unfair and she has an enormous platform to speak out against it. Men in Hollywood look up to her because she is powerful. She’s using that platform to correct something that isn’t right.”
“It’s a long overdue conversation and it’s admirable what she has done,” the Maestro star continued. “This is an age-old issue that’s in every part of society.”
Jessica Chastain
Also in response to Lawrence’s essay, Jessica Chastain shared her thoughts on the Hollywood pay gap.
“I’m proud of her,” Chastain said of Lawrence, per Variety. “Sometimes when you’re doing well, you’re afraid to say something’s wrong because then there’s going to be a bunch of people out there going ‘OK, well, you’re a big old movie star.’ But it doesn’t matter.”
“There’s no excuse,” she continued. “There’s no reason why she should be doing a film with other actors and get paid less than her male co-stars. It’s completely unfair. It’s not right. It’s been happening for years and years and years. I think it’s brave to talk about it. I think everyone should talk about it.”
Octavia Spencer
A few years later, in 2018, Octavia Spencer opened up about how Chastain played a part in negotiating her for her in a movie they starred in together.
“We were talking about pay equity with men and women,” Spencer said in a panel at the Sundance Film Festival, per Time. “She was like, ‘It’s time that women get paid as much as men’. I’m like, ‘Yeah Jessica, it’s time!’ We were dropping F-bombs and getting it all out there. And then I said, ‘But here’s the thing, women of color on that spectrum, we make far less than white women. So, if we’re gonna have that conversation about pay equity, we gotta bring the women of color to the table.’ And I told her my story, and we talked numbers, and she was quiet, and she said she had no idea that that’s what it was like for women of color.”
After hearing about her experience, Chastain immediately took action and advocated a raise in Spencer’s salary. “I love that woman because she’s walking the walk and she’s actually talking the talk,” Spencer said. “She said, ‘Octavia we’re gonna get you paid on this film…You and I are gonna be tied together. We’re gonna be favored nations, and we’re gonna make the same thing.’ Fast forward to last week, we’re making five times what we asked for.
Sienna Miller
In 2022, Sienna Miller opened up about once acting in a Broadway play and realizing that she was being “offered less than half” compared to her male co-star. As a result, she talked to the producer.
“I said to the producer, who was extremely powerful, ‘It’s not about money – it’s about fairness and respect,’ thinking they’d come back and say, ‘Of course, of course.’ But they didn’t,” she remembered to British Vogue. “They just said, ‘Well f— off then.'”
The play ended up happening, but the conversation served a “pivotal moment” for Miller in her negotiating career.
Viola Davis
While attending a talk at the Women in the World salon in 2018, EGOT winner Viola Davis shined a light on why the conversation about pay disparity needs to always include the struggles of women of color.
“We won’t talk about gender inequality of pay. Because a lot of the women who’ve stepped forward—and I stand in solidarity with them, okay?—what they are getting paid, which is half of what a man is getting paid…well, we get probably a tenth of what of what a Caucasian woman gets. And I’m number one on the call sheet,” she said. “And then I go in, and I have to hustle for my worth.”
Davis then went on to compare her career to many white actresses, including Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore, adding that her treatment does not compare to theirs because of the color of her skin. “The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity,” she said. “You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.”
Judy Greer
Much like Lawrence, Judy Greer also wrote an essay on the gender pay gap.
“In the past few months, I’ve become convinced of one thing: If I were a man, I’d be paid more,” she wrote for Glamour. “I realize that some people may not sympathize with an actress who gets to be in movies and on TV or a living. But if you take away names and vocations, the fact is that in 2015 a man is still getting paid more money to do the same job a woman does, in Hollywood and everywhere else. And no matter where you live or what you do, that’s b—.”
“I’ve watched as men I started out with—guys who worked with the same directors and on the same types of shows as I did— climbed the ladder and landed larger roles with even larger paychecks,” she continued. “I’d always hoped that my career and salary would follow theirs. But instead the pay gap kept growing. One big reason: The parts available to me as a woman are usually smaller and harder to come by.”
Sharon Stone
While starring in the iconic movie Basic Instinct, Sharon Stone added a unique clause to her contract to make up for the pay disparity.
“I put in my contract that I could keep the clothes,” the actress told InStyle. “People thought I was crazy, but the truth is I wasn’t getting paid much compared to my male co-star. I made $500,000; Michael made $14 million. So keeping my costumes was a really smart thing to do.” Looking at this pay difference all we can say is “wow.”
Patricia Arquette
Patricia Arquette famously advocated for equal pay following her Best Supporting Actress win at the 2015 Oscars.
“To every woman who gave birth to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everyone else’s equal rights,” Arquette said. “It’s our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America.”
Reese Witherspoon
In addition to being open about the pay disparities in Hollywood over the years, Reese Witherspoon put her words into action when she played a major role in mending HBO’s gender pay gap in 2018, per Vanity Fair.
“An actress came up to me at a party and said, ‘Do you know what you’ve done?’ I had no idea what she was talking about,” she said in an interview with the outlet. “The day after the HBO equal pay thing went through, they called her agent to rewrite her contract. She was then paid twice as much as she had been.”
Alicia Vikander
Alicia Vikander has also shared her thoughts on Hollywood’s pay disparities and how she thinks it could be mended.
“It’s all about information,” she told Reuters. “It’s all about bringing awareness, to educate people and the more you bring something into the limelight I think it makes, maybe not the biggest step, but small steps and you will continue to make change.”
Sandra Bullock
In 2015, Sandra Bullock told Variety that the pay disparity in Hollywood is solely the “byproduct” of a larger issue at hand.
“It’s a bigger issue than money. I know we’re focused on the money part right now. That’s just a byproduct. I keep saying, “Why is it that no one is standing up and saying you can’t say that about a woman?” We’re mocked and judged in the media and articles. Really, how men are described in articles versus women, there’s a big difference,” she told the outlet.
“I always make a joke: ‘Watch, we’re going to walk down the red carpet, I’m going to be asked about my dress and my hair while the man standing next to me will be asked about his performance and political issues.’ Once we start shifting how we perceive women and stop thinking about them as ‘less than,’ the pay disparity will take care of itself,” she stated. “There’s a much bigger issue at hand.”
Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman also spoke out on the subject during a Marie Claire interview in 2017. “I don’t think women and men are more or less capable, we just have a clear issue with women not having opportunities,” she told the outlet. “We need to be part of the solution, not perpetuating the problem.”
She then went on to detail that her co-star in No Strings Attached Ashton Kutcher was paid three times more than her for the movie. “I knew and I went along with it because there’s this thing with ‘quotes’ in Hollywood,” she explained, per The Guardian. “His [quote] was three times higher than mine, so they said he should get three times more. 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.”
“Compared to men, in most professions, women make 80 cents to the dollar. In Hollywood, we are making 30 cents to the dollar,” Portman said.
Amanda Seyfried
Amanda Seyfried has also shared one instance in which her male co-star was paid a much higher salary than hers.
“A few years ago, on one of my big-budget films, I found I was being paid 10 percent of what my male co-star was getting,” Seyfried said in an interview with The Sunday Times, per Business Insider. “And we were pretty even in status.”
“I think people think that just because I’m easy-going and game to do things I’ll just take as little as they offer,” she said. “It’s not about how much you get; it’s about how fair it is.”
Beyoncé
Music icon (and sometimes actress) Beyoncé has also been open about the misogyny and injustices she’s faced in the industry.
“You know, equality is a myth, and for some reason, everyone accepts the fact that women don’t make as much money as men do. I don’t understand that. Why do we have to take a backseat?” the singer says in her film, per GQ. “I truly believe that women should be financially independent from their men. And let’s face it, money gives men the power to run the show. It gives men the power to define value. They define what’s sexy. And men define what’s feminine. It’s ridiculous.”
Knowing this, the “Halo” singer took charge of her own career and finances. “You know, when I was writing the Destiny’s Child songs, it was a big thing to be that young and taking control,” she told the outlet. “And the label at the time didn’t know that we were going to be that successful, so they gave us all control. And I got used to it. It is my goal in life to be that example. And I think it will, hopefully, trickle down, and more artists will see that. Because it only makes sense. It’s only fair.”
Charlize Theron
After making headlines that she negotiated for equal pay in Snow White And The Huntsman, Charlize Theron opened up about the experience.
“I have to give them credit because once I asked, they said yes,” the Oscar winner told Elle. “They did not fight it. And maybe that’s the message: That we just need to put our foot down.”
“This is a good time for us to bring this to a place of fairness, and girls need to know that being a feminist is a good thing,” she continued. “It doesn’t mean that you hate men. It means equal rights. If you’re doing the same job, you should be compensated and treated in the same way.”
Kerry Washington
During the 2018 Super Bowl, Kerry Washington advocated for equal pay during a T-Mobile commercial.
Showing a video of babies still in the hospital, Washington narrated a message of hope. “Some people may see your differences and be threatened by them,” Washington said, per The Hollywood Reporter. “But you are unstoppable. You’ll love who you want, you’ll demand fair and equal pay, you will not allow where you come from to dictate where you’re going. You will be heard, not dismissed, you will be connected, not alone. Change starts now.”
Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Paltrow opened up about pay disparity after discovering what she and her Iron Man co-star Robert Downey Jr. made.
“Your salary is a way to quantify what you’re worth. If men are being paid a lot more for doing the same thing, it feels s—,” the Goop founder told Variety, per Page Six. “Look, nobody is worth the money that Robert Downey Jr. is worth,” she continued. “But if I told you the disparity, you would probably be surprised.”
