‘Westworld’ Star Evan Rachel Wood & More TV Women Who’ve Dealt With Unequal Pay
Evan Rachel Wood (Westworld)
For Season 2 of the premium cable drama, the actress — who plays host Dolores — was alerted that things would be a little different going forward. “I was just told that, you know, ‘Hey you’re, you’re getting equal pay.’ And I was like [gasp]. And I almost got emotional,” Wood said.
‘It’s like, ‘Well, you’re Anthony Hopkins or Ed Harris.’ But I think now we’re all doing equal amounts of work and really hard work.”
Claire Foy (The Crown)
This Queen delivered an award-winning performance in Netflix’s royal series, yet her male counterpart, Matt Smith (Prince Philip) was paid more. Showrunners claim the pay gap was due to Smith’s larger profile as a former Doctor on Doctor Who.
Amy Schumer (Inside Amy Schumer)
The comedienne lead her own Netflix comedy special—but not before the streaming network agreed to raise her pay. Apparently, they’d initially shelled out much more for similar specials from male comedians Dave Chapelle and Chris Rock.
Emmy Rossum (Shameless)
After starring in the hit Showtime series for nearly 10 seasons, Rossum requested that she be paid the same as her on-screen dad, William H. Macy. Just like her character, Fiona Gallagher, she didn’t take no for an answer.
Tracee Ellis Ross (black-ish)
In the midst of the Time’s Up movement, Ross is considering cutting back on her appearances in the hit ABC show unless the network matches her pay to that of TV husband Anthony Anderson.
Catt Sadler (E! News)
A longtime correspondent on the entertainment news show, Sadler vacated her position as soon as she found out that male co-host Jason Kennedy was making double her salary for the same job.
Ellen Pompeo (Grey’s Anatomy)
After starring on ABC’s hit medical drama for 14 years, Pompeo learned during negotiations that co-star Patrick Dempsey was used as leverage to keep her pay lower. Since Dempsey’s departure, Pompeo has advocated for herself and is now the highest-paid female drama actress on TV, making $575,000 per episode and over $20 million a year.
Lauren Cohan (The Walking Dead)
Not yet confirmed for a Season 9 return, Cohan has been in contract negotiations, asking to be paid equally to male castmates Andrew Lincoln and Norman Reedus.
Women in Hollywood have been combating unequal pay with recent movements like Time’s Up, and it seems almost weekly we get a new examples proving the need for such movements.
Westworld‘s Evan Rachel Wood is the latest in a list of TV actresses whose wage disparity with male co-stars — in this case, Anthony Hopkins and Ed Harris — has become public knowledge. Luckily, HBO has since remedied this, as the actress revealed this week, “I think I’m just now to the point where I’m getting paid the same as my male co-stars.”
Wood’s pay gap isn’t the first time this has happened, and it likely won’t be the last. Thankfully there are enough people in Hollywood who do believe in equal pay for men and women and outwardly advocate for it. Click through the gallery above see which TV actresses are fighting to be paid what they’re worth.
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