Of course, as any The X-Files fan knows, Duchovny’s role in the show became far more limited as the series went on, so by the end it was likely Anderson making the higher salary (or at least we’d hope so since she was still a series regular and Duchovny was essentially a guest star).ĭuring talks leading up to the revival, Anderson revealed that she was shocked to find she had once again been offered less than Duchovny to reprise her role. One of the most talked about aspects of the The X-Filesrevival recently was Gillian Anderson opening up about the backstage elements of the show-particularly the fact that she was paid less than her original co-star, David Duchovny. 16 DAVID DUCHOVNY OVER GILLIAN ANDERSON IN THE X-FILES Equal time doesn’t always mean equal pay on this list of 16 Actors Who Got Paid More Than Their Co-Stars. Whatever the circumstances, there are a surprising number of instances where actors we thought were inseparable on screen, were divided by the dollar once filming concluded. Sometimes one co-star is just a bigger name due to their past films, or someone didn’t negotiate well, or maybe there was even behind the scenes drama that led to the disparate salaries.
Watch a movie like Mad Max: Fury Road, and sure, it’s named after Tom Hardy’s character, but could anyone really say Charlize Theron’s Furiosa was any less crucial to the plot? It just makes sense to pay both stars the same if they're equally significant to the story, but it doesn’t always happen that way.
In such cases, you’d expect both co-stars would wind up getting pretty equal pay for the amount of work they are putting in. Some movies share the spotlight between multiple actors so well, that it’s hard to call either performer the bigger star of the project.