20 Women in Hollywood Who Have Spoken Out for Equal Pay

Despite increasing representation, women — and especially women of color — are still often seriously underpaid compared to their male counterparts. But stars including Ellen Pompeo, Viola Davis, Jessica Chastain, and Priyanka Chopra have become increasingly vocal about the wage gap in Hollywood and across other industries. Read on to see how they're speaking out and fighting back. (Photos via John Sciulli/Getty Images for ADCOLOR + Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Women in Film + Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for The Critics' Choice Awards + Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images)

Emma Stone: Stone spoke with Out in 2017 about how men can help close the wage gap, saying, "In my career so far, I've needed my male costars to take a pay cut so that I may have parity with them. And that's something they do for me because they feel it's what's right and fair. That's something that's also not discussed, necessarily — that our getting equal pay is going to require people to selflessly say, 'That's what's fair.' If my male costar, 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." Hey, one small step, right? (Photo via Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

Amanda Seyfried: Back in 2015, Seyfried told The Sunday Times about her experience with the wage gap on a big-budget film, recalling that she made a mere 10 percent of what her male costar of equal status was paid. Ouch. "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." (Photo via Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)

Amy Adams: Adams made an important point about the wage gap in a roundtable interview with several other actresses. Noting that she didn't want to be "a headline anymore about pay equality," she asked why questions about the issue weren't directed more often at producers and other people in power. (Photo via Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)

Ellen Pompeo: Pompeo made headlines in early 2018 when she negotiated a $20 million-a-year contract for Grey's Anatomy and became TV's highest-paid dramatic actress. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, she said she once asked for $5,000 more than her costar Patrick Dempsey was making at the time, "because the show is Grey's Anatomy and I'm Meredith Grey." She credits Shonda Rhimes with empowering her to ask for what she deserves: "When your face and your voice have been part of something that's generated $3 billion for one of the biggest corporations in the world, you start to feel like, 'Okay, maybe I do deserve a piece of this.'" (Photo via John Sciulli/Getty Images for ADCOLOR)

Emma Watson: Some people are still reluctant to talk about money, which Watson sees as part of the problem. "We are not supposed to talk about money, because people will think you're 'difficult' or a 'diva,'" she told Esquire UK. "Hollywood is just a small piece of a gigantic puzzle but it's in the spotlight. Whether you are a woman on a tea plantation in Kenya, or a stockbroker on Wall Street, or a Hollywood actress, no one is being paid equally." (Photo via Jesse Grant/Getty Images)

Emmy Rossum: Rossum held off on renewing her Shameless contract for season 8 until she had pay equity with costar William H. Macy. "As the time went on, the leadership role started to feel somewhat shared," she explained at 2017's Vulture Festival. "I suppose I just felt that I love the show, I love everyone in it, I want to keep doing it, but I just wanted it to feel right." (Photo via Rich Fury/Getty Images)

Eva Longoria: Longoria wrote an op-ed for Fortune on Latina Equal Pay Day in November 2017, outlining how "CEOs, executives, influencers, and entrepreneurs" could help close the gap. "Take an honest look at the gender compensation parity in your company, and if there's a gap, fix it. Not only is it the right thing to do, it's proven that it makes business sense," she wrote. "Let's demand more for Latinas. Because we're worth the whole dollar." (Photo via Christopher Polk/Getty Images)

Jennifer Lawrence: After the Sony hack revealed that she was paid much less than her American Hustle costars, J. Law wrote a Lenny Letter essay on the ordeal, including how it influenced her negotiations going forward. (Photo via Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)

Judy Greer: Greer took a stand for equal pay in an op-ed for Glamour in 2015. "In the past few months, I've become convinced of one thing: If I were a man, I'd be paid more," she wrote. "I realize that some people may not sympathize with an actress who gets to be in movies and on TV for 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 bullsh*t." (Photo via Theo Wargo/Getty Images)

Kerry Washington: Washington is a vocal proponent of equal pay for women, especially Black and Latinx women, who fall even lower on the pay scale. (Photo via Jesse Grant/Getty Images)

Meryl Streep: Yep, even Meryl freaking Streep gets the short end of the stick compared to her male counterparts. In a BBC radio interview in 2015, she said she still experiences sexism in the industry, both financially and otherwise. "Women's films don't sell, they tell you," she said. "There is this ancient wisdom that is difficult to move through... It's about everyone being open and men giving us a hand too." (Photo via Mike Coppola/Getty Images)

Viola Davis: Davis has been vocal about the wage gap that exists not just between men and women, but also between white women and women of color. "I got the Oscar, I got the Emmy, I got the two Tonys. I've done Broadway, I've done Off Broadway, I've done TV, I've done film. I've done all of it," she told Tina Brown at the Women in the World Salon in early 2018. "I have a career that's probably comparable to Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Sigourney Weaver… And yet, I am nowhere near them, not as far as money, not as far as job opportunities. Nowhere close to it." (Photo via Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Women in Film)

Natalie Portman: Portman said her No Strings Attached costar Ashton Kutcher earned three times more than she earned for the film, even after she won an Oscar for her performance in Black Swan. "I mean, we get paid a lot, so it's hard to complain," she said, acknowledging the relativity of the pay gap. "But the disparity is crazy. … I wasn't as pissed as I should have been." (Photo via Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)

Octavia Spencer: Spencer helped costar Jessica Chastain see how much greater the issue of pay disparity is for women of color. "I said, 'But here's the thing, women of color on that spectrum, we make far less than white women,'" Spencer recalled. "So, if we're gonna have that conversation about pay equity, we gotta bring the women of color to the table." In response, Chastain tied her salary to Spencer's in contract negotiations, ensuring that they'd both be paid fairly. (Photo via Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Jessica Chastain: After Jennifer Lawrence wrote an essay on the topic of equal pay in 2015, Chastain praised the actress for speaking out. "There's no reason why [Jennifer Lawrence] should be doing a film with other actors and get paid less than her male costars," she told Variety at the time. "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." More recently, she teamed up with Octavia Spencer to get Spencer's quote raised on a project they were planning together. "She had been underpaid for so long. When I discovered that, I realized that I could tie her deal to mine to bring up her quote," Chastain tweeted after Spencer shared the story. "Men should start doing this with their female costars." (Photo via Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for The Critics' Choice Awards)

Oprah Winfrey: In an interview for TIME Firsts in 2017, Winfrey said she once threatened to quit her daytime talk show if her producers — who were women in their 30s — weren't compensated fairly. "I went to my boss at the time and I said, 'Everybody needs a raise.' And he said, 'Why?'" she recalled. "He actually said to me, 'They're only girls. They're a bunch of girls. What do they need more money for?' I go, 'Well, either they're gonna get raises, or I'm gonna sit down. I will not work unless they get paid.'" (Photo via Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney)

Patricia Arquette: Arquette used her Oscars acceptance speech in 2015 to draw attention to the issue, saying, "To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else's equal rights. It's high time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America." (Photo via Rick Kern/Getty Images for Austin Film Society)

Priyanka Chopra: Lower pay for female actresses is only part of the ongoing problem, Chopra told Glamour in 2017. "I was told that female actors are replaceable in films because they just stand behind a guy anyway," she said. "I'm still used to being paid — like most actresses around the world — a lot less than the boys. We're told we're too provocative or that being sexy is our strength, which it can be, and it is, but that's not the only thing we have." (Photo via Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images)

Sharon Stone: Stone told People in 2015 that change "has to start with regular pay, not just for movie stars, but regular pay for the regular woman in the regular job. I waited tables and scrubbed floors and everything else on the way up, and you must make the same, and it's not cool that you don't." (Photo via Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Ruffino Wines)

Sienna Miller: Miller told Vogue in 2015 that she turned down a Broadway play after learning how much more her male costar would make. "The producer… wouldn't pay me within a million miles of what the male actor was being paid," she said. "And women always have to do more publicity than the men. The only way is to make a stand. We are going to have to make sacrifices to make change. I want to turn up and feel dignified." (Photo via Rich Fury/Getty Images)