Most of us assume that acting is a big paying job and can bring someone a great deal of money. However, many actors get shockingly underpaid or overpaid for the size of the role they have or for how successful a project they’re in becomes. The truth of the matter is that there are many inconsistencies and pay struggles in Hollywood across many different projects and types of acting.
To give you a better idea of this though, you have to understand what actors really are getting underpaid to get a concept of the lower range of these inequalities.
Here are some of the most underpaid actors in Hollywood to give you a starting point to think about.
Bill Murray
Bill Murray is a well-known actor with a massive career and fan base, but he tends to have many underpaid roles as well. Granted, he has plenty of fame and money to keep him going by now. But the actor has actually taken many underpaid roles. It seems that Murray cares more about his craft and enjoyment than about what he’s paid in most cases, as in cases such as in Rushmore where he earned only $9,000 or in Groundhog Day where he agreed to get the lowest rate of pay.
Lindsay Lohan
Lohan had great success in her childhood roles, but as she aged and came into trouble with her lifestyle including run-ins with the law and more; she became an extremely underpaid actor. When she was trying to get better exposure in her career during a struggle with partying, she accepted a role in The Canyons for only $2,300. Of course, the film didn’t make much money or popularity and she still ended up struggling on set. But the pay was incredibly low.
Jamie Dornan
Best known from his role in 50 Shades Of Grey, Jamie Dornan was paid surprisingly little for his role in the film. The actor wasn’t the first choice for the casting of this role and therefore received lesser pay at around $125k. While this is high for many of us, it’s surprisingly low for a starring role in a big-time film. Of course, the actor did so well and gained such a big reputation from it that he made millions in the second film’s pay.
Jennifer Lawrence
Jennifer’s struggle in pay seems to be more of a gender wage gap. When Sony’s financial information was hacked a length of time back, it was discovered that Lawrence was paid less than half that of her male co-stars in the film American Hustle. Since then, she seems to be finding better-paying roles and making more from her work. But that gap was insane, and many speculate that it is probably still true for her films even if not as big of a gap.
This list isn’t even the entirety of the actors that get underpaid overall or underpaid for certain roles that they take on. And this issue continues to be a struggle for many people in Hollywood both as beginning and veteran actors. While some factors such as identity or appearance can contribute to the difference in pay that many actors receive, there’s a lot more to this issue than just that.
Whether this list helps give you a starting input on considering the behind the scenes of Hollywood pay schemes, provides generally enriching information, or provides some other purpose it’s interesting and helpful to think about.