Olivia Colman, for her role of Anne, Queen of Great Britain in the period black-comedy film The Favourite (2018), won the Best Actress Academy Award. Her other notable film credits include Tyrannosaur (2011), The Iron Lady (2011), Hyde Park on Hudson (2012), Locke (2013), The Lobster (2015). Recently, the actress opted to speak on the pay disparity in Hollywood.
Olivia Colman Spoke On Gender Pay Gap in Hollywood
Olivia Colman in The Favourite (2018). Image Credit: Atsushi Nishijima/Fox Searchlight
Pay disparity in Hollywood has always been a prevalent topic. Many actresses spoke their minds out. And that list now has another name to it with Oscar and Emmy winner actress Olivia Colman said that if she were a male actor, she would be paid more.
During a recent appearance on CNN’s The Amanpour Hour, Olivia Colman chose to speak on the wage disparity between men and women.
“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,” Colman said. “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.”
She added that she believes she would be paid more if she were a male.
“I’m very aware that if I was Oliver Colman, I’d be earning a f— of a lot more than I am,” she continued. “I know of one pay disparity, which is a 12,000 percent difference. Do the maths, I know.”
Before Colman, recently Taraji P. Henson also opened up on this persisting notion that she expressed her frustration saying that even after having a successful career, she has been receiving racial wage gap.
Colman was recently seen in Wicked Little Letters, a British black comedy mystery film directed by Thea Sharrock, also starring Jessie Buckley.
Other Stars Who Previously Spoke About Pay Disparity in Hollywood
Jennifer Lawrence in No Hard Feelings (2023). Image Credit: Macall Polay/Sony Pictures Entertainment
As years passed, female actors now don’t hesitate to openly speak about the gender pay gap in the industry. Starting from Jennifer Lawrence to Emma Stone and now Olivia Colman, all raised their voice on the issue that has been there for a long time.
Jennifer Lawrence, The Hunger Games star in 2015 wrote an essay entitled “Why Do I Make Less Than My Co-Stars?” in Lena Dunham’s Lenny newsletter via The Atlantic addressing this issue.
“When the Sony hack happened and I found out how much less I was being paid than the lucky people with d**ks, I didn’t get mad at Sony. I got mad at myself. I failed as a negotiator because I gave up early. I didn’t want to keep fighting over millions of dollars that, frankly, due to two franchises, I don’t need.”
She said that her American Hustle co-star Amy Adams had made less than their male co-stars Jeremy Renner, Christian Bale, and Bradley Cooper.
Emma Stone, in a candid interview with Out Magazine, said that some of her male co-stars took pay cuts just to bridge the gap in the huge wage gap.
“In my career so far, I’ve needed my male co stars to take a pay cut so that I may have parity with them,” she said. “And that’s something they do for me because they feel it’s what’s right and fair.” (Via PEOPLE)
She continued:
“If my male co-star, who has a higher quote than me but believes we are equal, takes a pay cut so that I can match him, that changes my quote in the future and changes my life.”
Some other stars who have spoken out against this are Natalie Portman, Charlize Theron, Jessica Chastain, and Michelle Williams.
At such a time when technology and innovation are shaping society, this persisting issue of the gender pay gap and inequality is not changing much. However, nowadays, many come out to raise awareness on this and we can see some production houses reducing the old age practice, but it is still very wide.
