Working with entertainment titans like Netflix is a dream come true for those seeking Hollywood fame—but a bit of the sparkle is lost when having to fight for equal pay on set.
Actress Robin Wright may be an on-screen icon for her roles in Forrest Gump, The Princess Bride, and Wonder Woman. But when taking on a leading role for Netflix’s hit TV series House of Cards, she had to take on two additional jobs—producing and directing—to make the same money as her male co-star Kevin Spacey.
“It was difficult, I am going to be honest,” she told Variety in a recent interview. “When I said, ‘I think it’s only fair because my character became as popular as [Spacey’s],’ they said, ‘We can’t pay you the same as an actor, so we will make you exec producer and you can direct. We will give you three different paychecks.’”
“I asked, ‘Why can’t you pay me as an actor?’ ‘Because you didn’t win an Academy Award.’”
Wright played beloved character Claire Underwood in the series between 2013 and 2018—and was nominated for three Golden Globes and six primetime Emmys for her role, alongside two other Emmys for her producing chops.
But despite solidifying herself as a fan-favorite and essential protagonist in the House of Cards show, she had to go above and beyond to secure a salary close to Spacey’s reported $500,000-per-episode pay as Claire’s husband, Frank Underwood.
Fighting for equal pay in Hollywood
Wage discrimination has long been an eye sore of Hollywood—actresses have had to fight tooth-and-nail to achieve a salary that an actor would be awarded, doing the same work.
“That has been the protocol for years—it just is,” Wright said.
“If you say, ‘Why did so-and-so female not get the same amount as Will Smith?’ They say, ‘It will increase after you win.’ Nomination, not so much. Why does it have to do anything with a raise?”
Spacey made nearly half a million for starring on each episode of House of Cards, even though unsettling conflict arose at work. In 2024, the 65-year-old actor had to pay a $1 million settlement over accusations he sexually harassed young male staffers on set.
Wright wasn’t willing to put up with a pay significantly lower than that of Spacey for long; once she realized her character was just as popular as her co-star’s, she leveraged that fact in salary negotiations. By 2015, it seemed as though Wright’s strategy was starting to pay off, as it was reported the actress reeled in a $5.5 million salary, more on par with Spacey’s pay. Coincidence or not, Wright had won a Golden Globe for outstanding actress in a TV drama the year before.
“I was like, ‘You better pay me or I’m going to go public,’” Wright told The New York Times in a 2016 interview. “And they did.”
Netflix did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
Other successful women speaking out on equal pay
Women across all industries—from Wall Street to Hollywood—are fighting the same battle. Wall Street titan and Ellevest founder Sallie Krawcheck has been particularly outspoken on women’s wage discrimination.
“We’ve made progress, but that progress has stalled,” Krawcheck told Business Insider during a 2016 interview. “I really think the final or one of the final legs of feminism is for us to become financially equal with men. And putting it another way, until we are financially equal with men, we are not equal with men.”
Similar to Wright, actress Gillian Anderson also had to fight for her money. As the star of Fox’s hit series The X-Files during the 1990s, she said she earned less than what co-star David Duchovny was paid. When the network chose to revive the science-fiction TV show in 2015, the issue of wage discrimination reared its head again, with Anderson saying she was offered “half” that of her male counterpart. Sources told the Hollywood Reporter that Anderson and her co-star ultimately took home the equal pay for the series.
“Even in interviews in the last few years, people have said to me, ‘I can’t believe that happened, how did you feel about it, that is insane,’” Anderson told The Daily Beast in a 2016 interview. “And my response always was, ‘That was then, this is now.’ And then it happened again! I don’t even know what to say about it.”