Olivia Colman has spoken out about the pay gap in Hollywood as she insisted she would be paid more if her first name was ‘Oliver’.
The Academy Award-winning actress, 50, said the excuse that men attract audiences and therefore get paid more has not been valid for decades.
Olivia spoke about the pay gap on CNN’s The Amanpour Hour and revealed that she is aware of one pay gap with a whopping 12,000 percent difference.
When Olivia asked about her own experiences, she said, “Don’t get me started on the pay disparity, but male actors are paid more because they said they attracted the audience.
‘And that hasn’t actually been the case for decades, but they still like to use that as a reason not to pay women as much as their male colleagues.’
Olivia Colman has spoken out about the pay gap in Hollywood as she insisted she would be paid more if her first name was ‘Oliver’
The Academy Award-winning actress, 50, said the excuse that men attract audiences and therefore get paid more has not been true for decades.
‘I am very aware that if I were Oliver Colman I would be earning a lot more than I am now. I know of one wage difference, namely a difference of 12,000%.’
Olivia played the role of Queen Elizabeth II in the third and fourth series of The Crown, taking over the role from her predecessor Claire Foy.
Claire previously said she was ‘deeply hurt’ when she heard her co-star Matt Smith, who played Prince Philip, was paid more than her.
In an interview with the NET-A-PORTER digital magazine PorterEdit in 2018, the actress chose toit a “dirty secret” as she lamented the situation.
She explained, “I was deeply hurt by (the pay gap) because I had worked on that show for two years. I loved everyone on it.
“And then I realized there was a big, fat, dirty secret that no one ever talked about. Then there was that thing (of being) an unintentional spokesperson. Why did it have to be me?’
She added: “You feel lucky to have a job. It’s so competitive. So in that way, they’re relying on the competitiveness and vulnerability of actors to say, “They’ll accept it for ten thousand less.”
‘I couldn’t have said anything. And I think everyone would have preferred that. But I thought: if I do that, I’m cheating on myself and all the other women I know.’
Olivia played the role of Queen Elizabeth II in the third and fourth series of The Crown, taking over the role from her predecessor Claire Foy
Claire previously said she was ‘deeply hurt’ when she heard her co-star Matt Smith, who played Prince Philip, was paid more than her.
Despite playing Queen Elizabeth II in the Netflix series, producers revealed that Claire was paid significantly less than her co-star due to his Doctor Who fame.
Olivia’s comments are the latest in a growing outcry over pay disparities in Hollywood.
On Tuesday, Taraji P. Henson was overcome with emotion in an interview that addressed rumors that she had said she was considering quitting acting.
After Gayle King brought up the rumors during a SiriusXM interview, the actress, 53, began to burst into tears and sat for a long pause before she could speak again.
“I’m tired of working so hard, being kind in what I do (and) getting paid a fraction of the cost,” she finally said after Danielle Brooks — her co-star in The Color Purple — reached out for support.
She and Taraji made the rounds with director Blitz Bazawule to promote their upcoming film, which also stars Fantasia Barrino and Colman Domingo and is an adaptation of Alice Walker’s 1982 novel, Steven Spielberg’s 1985 non-musical film and the 2005 musical.
She shared her frustrations about earning far less than some of her white co-stars in previous projects — despite receiving prominent billing among the cast — and reiterated her criticism of studio executives for claiming she had no fans who would like her films wanted to see abroad.
Taraji made it clear that her complaints about substandard pay were shared by many other black actors.
On Tuesday, Taraji P. Henson was overcome with emotion in an interview that addressed rumors that she had said she was considering quitting acting.
She shared her frustrations about making far less than some of her white costars in previous projects, despite receiving prominent billing among the cast
“I’m tired of hearing my sisters say the same thing over and over again. You’re getting tired,” she continued. ‘I hear people say: ‘You work a lot.’ Well, I have to. The mathematics is not mathematics.’
Adding to the money stress, she had to hire a team to manage her career and public appearances once she became a star, which significantly increased her expenses even though her paychecks were still not where she thought they should be .
‘If you work a lot, you have a team. What we do comes with big bills,” she explained. ‘We don’t do this alone. We have a whole team behind us. They need to get paid.”
“When you hear someone say, ‘So and so made $10 million,’ it didn’t go into their account,” the Hidden Figures star continued. “Plus, Uncle Sam gets 50 percent. Now you have $5 million. Your team gets a 30 percent discount on what you gross, not after what Uncle Same took. Now do the math.’
She continued, “I’m only human. Every time I do something and break another glass ceiling, when it’s time to renegotiate, I’m back at the bottom, like I never did what I just did, and I’m tired. I’m tired. It gets to you,” she said irritably. ‘What does that mean? What does that tell me?’
Taraji added that her own difficulty maintaining her position in the industry made it harder for her to help rising stars find their own.
“If I can’t fight for those who come after me, then what the hell am I doing?” she mused as her tears became heavier.
She paused to dab at her eyes, raising her hand to cover them as she sobbed, before calming herself and continuing.
The Hustle & Flow actress also brought up previous complaints about studio executives telling her that her films “don’t translate abroad” as an excuse for not hiring her for bigger-budget films that would rely on the international box office.
“I’ve been tired of hearing about that my entire career,” she said. “Over twenty years in the game and I hear the same thing and I see what you do for another production, but when it comes time to work for us, they don’t have enough money. And I just have to smile and grin and bear it. Enough is enough!’
She added that she had to diversify with sponsorships and other non-trading income sources to keep up.
“That’s why I have other (brands) because this industry, if you let it, will steal your soul. I refuse to let that happen,” she said defiantly.