9 actors who gave up big paydays — and why

Britt HayesFri, July 31, 2026 at 6:33 PM UTC

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Kristen Stewart in ‘On the Road’; Keanu Reeves in ‘The Devil’s Advocate’; Chadwick Boseman in ‘21 Bridges’Credit: Everett(2); STX Films

We often hear about actors who make millions — or even tens of millions — for a single movie role. It’s much rarer that to hear about an in-demand performer willingly taking a pay cut.

Such was the case for TV veteran Tom Selleck, who recently reflected on how the stars of Blue Bloods took a sizable pay cut to help secure season 14. That season, however, ended up being the show’s last, though the franchise lives on through the Donnie Wahlberg-led spinoff Boston Blue.

There are plenty of reasons why an actor might agree to take less money, from helping their costars get raises and reducing production costs to ensuring that the crew gets fed. Here are nine celebrities who took major pay cuts — and had some pretty good reasons for doing so.

01 of 09

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz

Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball on ‘I Love Lucy’Credit: CBS/Getty

Classic-TV enthusiasts are well acquainted with the impact Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz had on the medium. The couple cofounded Desilu Productions to make I Love Lucy, and Ball later became the first woman to run a major Hollywood studio. Under her leadership, Desilu helped bring such enduring series as Star Trek and Mission: Impossible to television.

In 1951, Ball and Arnaz helped reinvent the TV comedy with their groundbreaking sitcom, but CBS and network sponsor Philip Morris — it was a very different time — took some convincing. The couple first wrote a $5,000 check to finance the production of the pilot. When the series moved forward, they insisted on remaining in Los Angeles and shooting it on film rather than broadcasting it live from New York, as was common at the time. They also agreed to reduce their combined weekly salary to cover the additional filming costs.

As part of the agreement, Desilu retained the rights to each episode after it aired, cementing their status as two of the savviest and most successful figures in showbiz history.

02 of 09

Stellan Skarsgård

Stellan Skarsgård in ‘Sentimental Value’Credit: NEON

After filming the 1997 thriller Insomnia in Norway, Stellan Skarsgård made a vow. “I gathered the whole crew and said, ‘I’ll never film in this country again — unless we get a good lunch,’” the actor recalled during a roundtable interview at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival (via Variety). Skarsgård said he lost “eight kilos” (about 17 pounds) while shooting the thriller, which was later remade by Christopher Nolan.

“We would usually get a loaf of bread, that’s pre-sliced, and a plastic salami. That’s it!” he explained. “I’ve made other films in Norway since then, but it has always said in my contract that everybody should get lunches of the highest European standard. And that’s expensive. Norway, they’re the richest country, but they don’t want to spend money on food.”

This is how Skarsgård wound up taking a pay cut to star in Joachim Trier’s acclaimed 2025 drama Sentimental Value, which was filmed primarily in Oslo. And when he says “good lunch,” he means it. Skarsgård noted that “the food has to be served on real china — no plastic, paper bags or whatever. And you’re not standing in line, you sit down and eat. It makes everybody happier and makes the film much better. I haven’t made one bad film in Norway since.”

03 of 09

Keanu Reeves

Stellan Skarsgård in ‘Sentimental Value’Credit: Everett

Keanu Reeves has developed a reputation for being one of the nicest guys in Hollywood, both on- and off-set. So it may not be surprising to learn that the actor has taken more than one pay cut in the name of cinema. According to a 2001 Wall Street Journal profile, Reeves offered to reduce his own pay by “a couple million dollars” on 1997’s The Devil’s Advocate so that the production could afford to hire Al Pacino.

He did the same thing when he starred in the 2000 sports movie The Replacements. When Warner Bros. claimed that Gene Hackman’s salary was too pricey, Reeves offered to take a pay cut so they could hire the acting legend.

Reeves also notably signed over a sizable portion of his back-end deal for the Matrix sequels to members of the special-effects and costume -design departments. “He felt that they were the ones who made the movie and that they should participate,” an executive told WSJ.

04 of 09

Chadwick Boseman

Chadwick Boseman and Sienna Miller in ‘21 Bridges’Credit: Courtesy of STXfilms

The late Chadwick Boseman was another actor who had a reputation for being a total mensch. Following his untimely passing in 2020, his 21 Bridges costar Sienna Miller emphasized the quality of Boseman’s character in an interview with Empire, revealing just how far he went to secure her involvement in the thriller.

“He produced 21 Bridges, and had been really active in trying to get me to do it,” Miller explained. “He was a fan of my work, which was thrilling, because it was reciprocated from me to him, tenfold. So he approached me to do it, he offered me this film, and it was at a time when I really didn’t want to work anymore. I’d been working non-stop and I was exhausted, but then I wanted to work with him.”

She continued, “This was a pretty big budget film, and I know that everybody understands about the pay disparity in Hollywood, but I asked for a number that the studio wouldn’t get to. And because I was hesitant to go back to work and my daughter was starting school and it was an inconvenient time, I said, ‘I’ll do it if I’m compensated in the right way.’ And Chadwick ended up donating some of his salary to get me to the number that I had asked for. He said that that was what I deserved to be paid.”

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05 of 09

Kristen Stewart

Kristen Stewart in ‘On the Road’Credit: Gregory Smith

As Miller referenced in the story above, women are often fighting to get paid as much as their male counterparts in Hollywood. On the flip side, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Kristen Stewart agreed to a drastically reduced payday for On the Road, Walter Salles’ 2012 adaptation of the Jack Kerouac novel. It took over 50 years for Kerouac’s novel to make it to the big screen, and getting it there required some clever financial maneuvering.

Stewart, who earned millions for the final two films in The Twilight Saga, received only about $200,000 for On the Road. “I would’ve done craft service for On the Road,” the actress said in a red carpet interview. “I would’ve done anything.”

06 of 09

The cast of The Big Bang Theory

Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco, Mayim Bialik, Jim Parsons, Kevin Sussman, and Kunal Nayyar on ‘The Big Bang Theory’Credit: Monty Brinton/CBS

In 2017, ahead of the last two seasons of The Big Bang Theory, the sitcom’s main cast members — Johnny Galecki, Simon Helberg, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, and Kunal Nayyar — agreed to reduce their per-episode rate in an effort to help costars Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch, who were negotiating for salary parity.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the five cast members offered to cut their pay by $100,000 an episode (they’d still be making $900,000 per episode) to try and get Bialik and Rauch higher rates. Although the actresses didn’t achieve parity, they were given relatively significant pay bumps, going from $175,000 to $200,000 per episode to approximately $425,000 per episode.

07 of 09

George Clooney

George Clooney as Edward R. Murrow in the stage production of ‘Good Night, and Good Luck’Credit: EMILIO MADRID

George Clooney was so passionate about making Good Night, and Good Luck that he took a massive pay cut to make it happen. The actor directed, produced, cowrote, and costarred in the 2005 drama about broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow (played by David Strathairn in the film) and his conflict with Senator Joseph McCarthy during the anti-Communist Red Scare.

“Murrow talks about ‘a built-in allergy to stories that offend us,’” Clooney said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. “The problem hasn’t changed, really.” Perhaps proving his point, the actor struggled to get studio backing for the political drama, which was perceived as too risky.

“I got a dollar for writing the script,” Clooney explained. “I had to endorse my check for directing and turn in my acting salary. Grant [Heslov, his co-producer, cowriter, and costar] and I each made a buck for doing it.”

The gamble paid off: Good Night, and Good Luck was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director.

08 of 09

Christopher Lee

Christopher Lee as Lord Summerisle in ‘The Wicker Man’Credit: Everett

Legendary actor Christopher Lee gave one of his best performances in Robin Hardy’s 1973 folk-horror classic The Wicker Man — and, if you believe Lee, he did it for free. “I got paid nothing. I keep repeating it to people and they don’t believe it’s true,” the actor said in the 2001 documentary The Wicker Man Enigma. “If they paid me my normal fee — and everyone else their normal fees — they wouldn’t have been able to make the film.”

Not only did Lee forgo a salary, but he also took the film’s publicity into his own hands. “No press show… no publicity,” Lee recalled, according to The Independent. “I rang all the film critics I knew and I said, ‘Will you do me a favour — and I will pay for your seat — will you see this film that’s on now?’ Nobody asked me to pay for their seats. They went as individuals, they paid for their own. And the acclaim was virtually unanimous.”

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09 of 09

Jack Black

Kyle Gass and Jack Black in ‘Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny’Credit: Everett

Younger readers may not recall a time when Jack Black wasn’t a leading man, but it took his breakout performance in 2000’s High Fidelity to catapult him to stardom, leading to major roles in hits like School of Rock (2003) and Peter Jackson’s King Kong (2005). The actor used his newfound clout to make 2006’s Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny, a movie based on his comedic two-man rock outfit with Kyle Gass.

The duo had a built a following playing clubs in Los Angeles and starred on a cult classic HBO show about their stage personas. Still, making an R-rated movie about Black’s pre-mega-fame music project was a tough sell. As Black confirmed to The New York Times, he took a pay cut, reducing his usual $12 million fee to $1 million, which he split down the middle with Gass.

“Who cares how much money I make?” Black said when asked about the pay cut. “What’s important is we got a movie about the D made, and we got to make it the way we wanted.”

on Entertainment Weekly

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