7 Big Actors Who Were Paid in Pennies For ‘Huge’ Roles

A big star makes more money in the entertainment industry, a fact that we all are well aware of. Some stars are even paid way more than they deserve or it’s not equivalent to the time they’ve devoted. But keeping the huge fandom these actors have, studios offer them handsome paychecks.

However, this article focusses on those actors who were underpaid for huge roles and contributions they made to the cinema.

7. Mei Gibson (Mad Max)

Mel Gibson was still a rising star during the 70’s when he helped build a franchise that still gets Oscar nominations and other renowned awards.

However, you’d be surprised to know that Gibson was underpaid for his groundbreaking performance in the film. He was paid merely $15,000 was far less from the other actors received.

6. Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson)

Ryan did Academy Award winner Half Nelson at the time when he was considered at the peak of his career.

He was an established actor in television at that time but was only paid $1000 a week whereas the film grossed $20,00,000 worldwide.

5. Brad Pitt (Thelma & Louise)

Brad Pitt went topless as a cowboy in the film. It wasn’t about the pay for Brad at that time, as he was still getting to feature in a high budget movie.

He got paid less than $9000, but this performance took his career to new heights. You go, Brad!

4. Harrison Ford (Star Wars: A New Hope)

Star Wars still makes billions at the box office from each sequel released every year. Star Wars was a brainchild of LucasFilms who initially had a really low budget to make a sci-fi film.

The actors of the film worked day and night but were not paid according to by the company. For instance, Harrison Ford was paid only $10,000 for a role that cemented his place in history.

3. Jonah Hill (Wolf of Wall Street)

Directed by Martin Scorsese, this film had a budget of more than $100 million. Jonah Hill was a well-established character at that time signed the contract for the film for just $60,000.

It was perhaps because of Scorsese’s influence over actors that even an Oscar-winner agreed to work for such a minimum wage.

2. Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman)

Wonder Woman is till date the best DCEU film to grace the big screen. The film released in a decade where comic book films have been megahits and keeping that in mind, the actress was paid merely $300,000.

The film went on to gross $822 million worldwide and well, maybe a few deserved far more than that.

1. Chris Evans (Captain America: First Avenger)

Chris Evans was paid half the amount as Robert Downey Jr in his first MCU film, The First Avenger.

Chris was a rising actor at the time who had already played impressive characters onscreen. He was paid almost $200k for his role which was far less than what the film went on to make at the box office.