Low salaries notwithstanding: 10 acclaimed actors who gave iconic performances but weren't paid enough

10 celebrities who worked for pretty low salaries on memorable film roles

Hollywood celebrities are known to rake in jaw-dropping earnings for their hard work in the movies they star in. However, renowned actors sometimes agree to lesser pay for several reasons, including their love for the story and the necessity to generate an income in the face of adversity.

1. Harrison Ford in 'Star Wars: A New Hope' (1977)

Per Celebrity Net Worth, Harrison Ford - who played the role of Han Solo in 'Star Wars: A New Hope' (1977) - was reportedly paid only $10,000 for the role. He was, nevertheless, paid more for his roles in the later sequels of the 'Star Wars' series.

2. Jamie Lee Curtis in 'Halloween' (1978)

Jamie Lee Curtis, though dubbed as the 'Scream Queen' did not receive a royal paycheck for her role in the 1978 movie 'Halloween'. In 2018, she told People per Fox Business, "I made $8,000," before adding, "I made $2,000 a week, which at the time was a fortune." She was also paid $200 for her costumes in the project.

3. Brad Pitt in 'Thelma & Louise' (1991)

Brad Pitt received a meager $6,000 for his first-ever role in Hollywood. In the Ridley Scott directorial 1991 film 'Thelma and Louise', Pitt took up the role of the enigmatic cowboy JD. As he came to Los Angeles with just $275, his paycheck for the movie meant a lot. During his interview with The Sun per The Things in 2020, he shared, “It was a week before graduation and I realized all of my friends had jobs,” and added, “I had a friend, who was not even a close friend, who talked about going out to LA and her dad had a place. I loaded up the car. I didn’t graduate. All I had to do was hand in a term paper, but in my head, I was done. I was going west. I landed and went straight to McDonald’s. I got a newspaper. I had $275 (£200) to my name, and I saw in the paper that you could sign up for work as an extra, so I signed up for three places. Within a week, I was doing extra work, and I was really, really happy.”

4. Jeff Daniels in 'Dumb and Dumber' (1994)

Jeff Daniels received $50,000 for his role in the 1994 comedy flick 'Dumb and Dumber'. Though it is not a meager amount, when compared to Daniels' co-star Jim Carrey's $7 million paycheck, it appeared less. During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter per Business Insider, writer-director Bobby Farrelly shared that the studio (New Line) didn't want Daniels for the role. Farrelly shared, "Jeff Daniels was not the obvious choice because he hadn't done any, you know, out-and-out comedies before that," and added, "He was always comedic in his roles." He continued, "The studio didn't want him," before adding, "They said, 'Please, anyone but him. Get a comedic actor'. So they offered him, if I recall, 50 grand, which was, you know, Jim's getting seven mil, they offered him 50 figuring he'll say, 'No, I'm not taking that', but he took it."

5. Seann William Scott in 'American Pie' (1999)

Seann William Scott, who is widely known for his role as Steve Stifler from the 1999 coming-of-age comedy 'American Pie' reportedly made $8,000 for the iconic role. During an appearance on 'The Rich Eisen Show', the actor was asked whether he was paid a four-figure salary. Scott replied, per BuzzFeed, “I think so, yeah, because I remember afterward I bought a used Thunderbird for, like, $5,000 or maybe $6,000, I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, baby'.” He added, “I don’t know what happened to the other $2,000 because I ended up having to work at the LA Zoo as a churro guy, so maybe it was even less than $8,000."

6. Christian Bale in 'American Psycho' (2000)

Christian Bale purportedly made less than some of the makeup artists of 'American Psycho' when he starred as Patrick Bateman in the hit film from 2000. Bale reportedly received a paycheck of $1 million for the role. He later shared with GQ, "They had paid me the absolute minimum they were legally allowed to pay me," before revealing, "And I had a house that I was sharing with my dad and my sister and that was getting repossessed. So the first thing was: 'Holy crap. I've got to get a bit of money' because I've got American Psycho done, but I remember one time sitting in the makeup trailer, and the makeup artists were laughing at me because I was getting paid less than any of them."

7. George Clooney in 'Good Night, and Good Luck' (2005)

George Clooney took home just three dollars for his multi-faceted roles in the 2005 drama 'Good Night, and Good Luck'. While he wrote, directed and acted in the movie, he was paid only one dollar for each role. Clooney also mortgaged his house for the film. The movie, nevertheless, performed well at the box office and received six Academy Award nominations, per The Things.

8. Adam Levine in 'Begin Again' (2013)

Adam Levine received absolutely nothing when he made his acting debut through the role of Dave in the 2013 indie flick 'Begin Again'. He shared with USA Today per RadarOnline, "I did this movie for no money. I'm very lucky that I'm in that position," before adding, "I want to have good experiences. I don't want to do a bunch of s--t that I hate. I want to treat [acting] completely differently because I have the very fortunate luxury of not having to think of this in terms of money."

9. Jennifer Lopez in 'Hustlers' (2019)

Jennifer Lopez revealed that she received no payment for the 2019 film 'Hustlers'. She shared in an interview with GQ per ABC, "I do things because I love them. I didn't get paid a whole bunch of money for Hustlers," before adding, "I did it for free and produced it. I bank on myself. That's the Jenny From the Block. I do what I want, I do what I love."

10. Oprah Winfrey in 'The Color Purple' (2023)

Oprah Winfrey took only $35,000 for her role in the 2023 film 'The Color Purple'. The media mogul shared with Essence per The Hollywood Reporter, "I can’t even begin to tell you what it means to me — a person who wanted nothing more in my life than to be in The Color Purple. And God taught me to surrender — that was the big lesson for me,” before adding, “They were only offering $35,000 to be in this film, and it is the best $35,000 I ever earned. It changed everything and taught me so much. It is God moving through my life.”