Jada McLean<\/strong> is celebrating a huge step forward for her cheer squad.<\/p>\nAfter banding together with her fellow Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders to fight for a roughly 400 percent raise going into the 2025 NFL season, the 25-year-old revealed the team\u2019s crusade for fair wages was about much more than their bottom line.<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was less about me and more about the girls who come after me,\u201d Jada exclusively told E! News at the Netflix Summer Break event in Santa Monica, Calif., July 17. \u201cI wanted to make sure that I left this organization better than I came in. So for them to have a little more comfortability with their finances was something that was really important to me, because it was something that I did struggle with while being on the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
The athlete, who also appeared on the Netflix docuseries America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders<\/em>, went on to note that the pay increase will give her successors the chance to truly make the most of their experience on the team.<\/p>\nKeep reading to see what more stars have said about their earnings\u2026<\/p>\n
–Reporting by Victoria Berggren and Olivia Thompson<\/strong><\/p>\nMore from E! Online<\/strong><\/p>\nAdvertisement<\/p>\n
The athlete, who also appeared on the Netflix docuseries America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders<\/em>, went on to note that the pay increase will give her successors the chance to truly make the most of their experience on the team.<\/p>\nRiver Callaway\/Variety via Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u201cOf course I’m proud of myself and the girls who helped me as well to make this change,\u201d she continued, \u201cbut I just hope that these girls in the future will get to have more fun on the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
In June, Jada told The New York Times <\/em>that she made just $15 per hour in 2024\u2014a figure she said varied based on experience\u2014while the recent raise would enable veterans to earn upwards of $75 per hour moving forward. In fact, others are already reaping the benefits of Jada and her squad\u2019s activism.<\/p>\nAdvertisement<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a rookie last year,\u201d Jada\u2019s teammate Kelly Villares<\/strong> told E! at the Netflix event. \u201cI just made the team. I’m still just trying to do my best to work my very hardest. So having leaders like Jada, people who aren’t afraid to stand up for what is right, means the absolute world. It inspires me to hopefully, at one point, lead the team to do the exact same thing.\u201d<\/p>\nKeep reading to see what more stars have said about their earnings\u2026<\/p>\n
–Reporting by Victoria Berggren and Olivia Thompson<\/strong><\/p>\nJenna Johnson<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/dialog><\/div>\n\n
While there’s no cash prize for nabbing Dancing With the Stars<\/em>‘ mirrorball trophy, \u201cwhoever makes it to the finale, you all get paid up until then,” Jenna Johnson<\/strong>, who won season 33 with partner Joey Graziadei<\/strong>, shared. “And you do get a nice bonus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
“If you win,” Johnson, who noted pro contracts are dependent on seniority, continued. “it\u2019s not like you get a million dollars. You\u2019re just getting a cute trophy together.\u201d As for those who say farewell to the ballroom early, well, as she explained, “You\u2019re guaranteed until a certain amount of weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to multiple reports, dancer salaries start at around $1,200 to $1,600 an episode, which can increase to up to of $100,000 per season. (ABC has not confirmed these reports.) On the flip side, celebrities receive a starting salary of $125,000. As they cha-cha further into the competition, stars receive additional bonuses with the semifinalists and finalists getting paid up to $50,000 extra.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Jennifer Lawrence<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/dialog><\/div>\n\n
Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence was paid $25 million to star in Adam McKay<\/strong>\u2019s ensemble disaster comedy Don\u2019t Look Up<\/em>. But her costar and fellow Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio got $30 million.<\/p>\n\u201cLook, Leo brings in more box office than I do,\u201d Lawrence told Vanity Fair for its\u2019 December 2020\/January 2021 issue. \u201cI\u2019m extremely fortunate and happy with my deal. But in other situations, what I have seen\u2014and I\u2019m sure other women in the workforce have seen as well\u2014is that it\u2019s extremely uncomfortable to inquire about equal pay. And if you do question something that appears unequal, you\u2019re told it\u2019s not gender disparity but they can\u2019t tell you what exactly it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her sanguine attitude was hard-fought: When the disparity between Lawrence\u2019s compensation and that of her male costars for 2013\u2019s American Hustle<\/em> was revealed in the 2014 Sony email hack, it prompted an industry-wide conversation about the gender pay gap in Hollywood.<\/p>\n“I’m so fortunate to have my job. My problem is not money,” Lawrence told the U.K.\u2019s Channel 4 News in 2017. “I wasn’t upset that I only got this many millions for a movie. That’s ridiculous. I was angry about the unfairness and inequality.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Jonah Hill<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/dialog><\/div>\n\n
Less comparable to DiCaprio\u2019s salary: The $60,000 \u201cbefore commissions and taxes\u201d that Jonah Hill was paid for 2013\u2019s The Wolf of Wall Street<\/em>, while the titular wolf made $10 million.<\/p>\n\u201cThey gave me the lowest amount of money possible,\u201d Hill recalled on The Howard Stern Show <\/em>in 2014. But it was the chance to appear in a Martin Scorsese<\/strong> movie, so the Moneyball<\/em> alum wanted to get the deal done before anyone could change their mind.<\/p>\n\u201cI would sell my house and give him all my money to work for [Scorsese],\u201d explained Hill, who earned his second Best Supporting Actor nomination for his turn as a squirrelly substance-abusing stockbroker. \u201cThis isn’t what you make money for. You do 22 Jump Street<\/em> or you do other things, and you can pay your rent. I would have done anything in the world. I would do it again in a second. This isn’t about money. You should do things that you care about.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nOprah Winfrey<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/dialog><\/div>\n\n
Oprah Winfrey happily accepted only a little bit of green to star in 1985\u2019s The Color Purple<\/em>.<\/p>\n\u201cThey were only offering $35,000 to be in this film, and it is the best $35,000 I ever earned,\u201d the billionaire media mogul told Essence in 2023. \u201cIt changed everything and taught me so much.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Jennifer Lopez<\/p>\n\n\n
When she scored the role of late Tejana singer Selena Quintanilla<\/strong> in the 1997 biopic Selena<\/em>, Jennifer Lopez became the first Latina actress to earn $1 million for a film.<\/p>\n\u201cI was too young and didn\u2019t know what the hell was going on,\u201d Lopez told Variety in 2019, reflecting on her breakout movie. \u201cIt was great they offered me a million dollars. I feel like everyone was making a statement.\u201d<\/p>\n
And it paved the way for her to make hundreds of millions more, though sometimes her participation doesn\u2019t cost a thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do things because I love them,\u201d Lopez explained to GQ in 2019. \u201cI didn’t get paid a whole bunch of money for Hustlers<\/em>. I did it for free and produced it. I bank on myself, you know? Like Jenny From the Block<\/em>\u2014I do what I love.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAdrien Brody<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/dialog><\/div>\n\n
Adrien Brody didn\u2019t do The Brutalist <\/em>for the money. Rather, he took on the role of a Hungarian architect suffering for his art in post-WWII America for $250,000 and won his second Oscar for Best Actor.<\/p>\n\u201cI need a studio movie now, because I\u2019ve poured it all into this,\u201d Brody quipped to Variety, referring to the \u201cbarn that looks like a castle\u201d he\u2019s renovating in upstate New York.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Pete Davidson<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/dialog><\/div>\n\n
\u201cDo you guys know what they pay us?\u201d Pete Davidson cracked to New York <\/em>magazine when asked ahead of Saturday Night Live<\/em>‘s 50th anniversary special how he spent his money when he was first hired at the age of 20 in 2014. \u201cIt\u2019s like three grand an episode, so I think I got dinner.\u201d<\/p>\nInterestingly, the salaries have remained proportional for SNL <\/em>newcomers, with season one stars John Belushi<\/strong>, Jane Curtin<\/strong>, Gilda Radner<\/strong>, Dan Aykroyd<\/strong> and Chevy Chase <\/strong>reportedly earning $750 an episode back in 1975. Which was roughly equivalent to $3,300 in 2014, according to the Consumer Price Index Inflation calculator. (Though the $750 of 1975 is $4,428 in 2025.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nKenan Thompson<\/p>\n\n\n
While Kenan Thompson makes a lot<\/em> more than $3,000 per episode of SNL <\/em>now that he\u2019s in his record 22nd season, the former Nickelodeon star had to start somewhere.<\/p>\n\u201cThat first commercial when they paid me, it was $800,\u201d the All That <\/em>alum revealed in Demi Lovato<\/strong>\u2018s 2024 documentary Child Star<\/em>. \u201cI was 12 so that may as well have been a million dollars.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nLauren Graham<\/p>\n\n\n
It turns out Gilmore Girls<\/em>\u2019 status as a beloved rewatchable classic is literally priceless.<\/p>\n\u201cThere really are no residuals on Netflix,\u201d Lauren Graham<\/strong>, who played Lorelai Gilmore for seven seasons and then reprised the role for 2016\u2019s Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life<\/em>, said on Jimmy Kimmel Live in March 2025. \u201cBut I\u2019ve been paid in love and appreciation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nTommy Dorfman<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/dialog><\/div>\n\n
Feeling not so appreciated, Tommy Dorfman got specific about her 13 Reasons Why paycheck during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike\u2014which was prompted in part (as was the WGA strike) by streamers like Netflix not making it a practice to pay additional compensation to cast and crew once a show had become a big hit.<\/p>\n
“my earnings for the entire first season of 13 reasons why were $29,953.24 prior to agency and manager fees (20%) and taxes,” Dorfman wrote on Threads July 24. “8 episodes over six months.” She continued, \u201ci did all of the promo and had KEY ART for this show, flew round trip from NYC to SF to shoot for every episode, was kept for days without pay\/working. i barely qualified for insurance.”<\/p>\n
And, Dorfman added, \u201cwithin the first 28 days of release, the show’s season 1 garnered a total of 476 million view hours. this is why we strike.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Dax Shepard<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/dialog><\/div>\n\n
Without naming names or numbers, Dax Shepard told fellow Parenthood <\/em>alum Lauren Graham when she appeared on his podcast that he knew he made \u201camong the lowest of all the actors\u201d on their NBC drama, which ran for six seasons.<\/p>\nBut, the Armchair Expert <\/em>host stressed that he did not <\/em>mind.<\/p>\n\u201cEvery job I had ever had in my life prior to Parenthood<\/em>, I made a point to find out what everyone was making,\u201d he said. \u201cI’d always figure it out\u2014either a conversation where I get it out of them or I backchannel through an agent.”<\/p>\nSo he made a point to purposely not<\/em> seek out such info about his Parenthood<\/em> family, which helped with enjoying the experience even when he did<\/em> get an inkling of where he was on the pay pyramid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nGeorge Clooney<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/dialog><\/div>\n\n
\u201cI got a dollar for writing the script,\u201d George Clooney told the Los Angeles Times in 2005 about the financial strings he pulled to get his film Good Night, and Good Luck <\/em>made. \u201cI had to endorse my check for directing and turn in my acting salary. [Actor, cowriter and coproducer Grant Heslov<\/strong>] and I each made a buck for doing it.\u201d<\/p>\nHis labor of love about CBS News journalist Edward R. Murrow<\/strong> speaking truth to power in the 1950s had legs, though: Making his Broadway debut, Clooney is playing Murrow in a stage adaptation of the film. And with the play having grossed a Broadway record (for a nonmusical) $3.3 million during a preview week before <\/em>it officially opened April 3, he\u2019s making a lot more than $1.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nChristian Bale<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/dialog><\/div>\n\n
For his chilling turn as Patrick Bateman in 2000\u2019s American Psycho<\/em>, Christian Bale was paid \u201cthe absolute minimum they were legally allowed to pay me\u201d because no one in the production really wanted to hire him except director Mary Harron<\/strong>, the Welsh actor told GQ in 2022.<\/p>\nHe made so little, Bale shared, that he remembered \u201csitting in the makeup trailer and the makeup artists were laughing at me because I was getting paid less than any of them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Jon Heder<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/dialog><\/div>\n\n
His uncle may have been Rico, but Jon Heder confirmed in 2010 that he was \u201cinitially\u201d only paid $1,000 for Napoleon Dynamite<\/em>.<\/p>\nAfter the irreverent comedy became a sleeper hit, he was able to renegotiate for a piece of the profits, telling the New Zealand Herald, \u201cThey went a little bit higher.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Djimon Hounsou<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/dialog><\/div>\n\n
Djimon Hounsou<\/strong> said he\u2019s \u201cdefinitely underpaid\u201d in Hollywood despite his prestigious list of credits, including Amistad<\/em> and Blood Diamond<\/em>.<\/p>\n“I’ve been in this business and making films now over two decades,” the Beninese actor told CNN\u2019s Larry Madowo<\/strong> in January 2025. “And still\u2014with two Oscar nominations and been in many big blockbuster films\u2014and yet I\u2019m still struggling financially to make a living.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nRebel Wilson<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/dialog><\/div>\n\n
Rebel Wilson detailed in her 2024 memoir Rebel Rising<\/em> that she was paid $3,500 to do Bridesmaids<\/em>, \u201ca fee that I then had to pay directly to the Screen Actors Guild to join the union. So really, I got paid nothing.\u201d<\/p>\nStill, she wrote, the experience was \u201ceverything!\u201d<\/p>\n
And the Australian actress\u2019 star rose ever a-ca higher, with her fee going from the SAG minimum scale of $65,000 for 2012\u2019s Pitch Perfect<\/em> to $10 million for 2017\u2019s Pitch Perfect 3<\/em>. Wilson wrote that she raked in $20 million total for the threequel, Isn\u2019t It Romantic<\/em> and The Hustle<\/em>, though\u2014reality alert\u2014she \u201clost almost 50 percent to taxes, 10 percent to agents and 5 percent\u201d to her lawyer. But even after those obligations and paying her publicist, business manager and assistant, Wilson \u201cnetted what to me was an absolute fortune.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nEllen Pompeo<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/dialog><\/div>\n\n
In late 2017, Ellen Pompeo negotiated a new Grey\u2019s Anatomy contract for $575,000 per episode, a seven-figure signing bonus and two full backend equity points worth an estimated $6 million to $7 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m 48 now, so I\u2019ve finally gotten to the place where I\u2019m OK asking for what I deserve, which is something that comes only with age,\u201d Pompeo told The Hollywood Reporter in 2018. \u201cBecause I\u2019m not the most \u2018relevant\u2019 actress out there. I know that\u2019s the industry perception because I\u2019ve been this character for 14 years. But the truth is, anybody can be good on a show season one and two. Can you be good 14 years later? Now, that\u2019s a f–kin\u2019 skill.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reflecting more recently on how she always made less than costar Patrick Dempsey, even though she <\/em>was the Grey in question, Pompeo said she didn\u2019t begrudge him his money.<\/p>\nBut, she said on a March 2025 episode of Call Her Daddy, \u201cJust being that I was the namesake of the show, I deserved the same and that was harder to get. I wasn’t salty about him getting what he got. I was salty that they didn’t value me as much as they valued him and they never will.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Jamie Lee Curtis<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/dialog><\/div>\n\n
Jamie Lee Curtis recalled getting paid $2,000 a week\u2014so $8,000 in total\u2014for 1978\u2019s Halloween, her movie debut. \u201cI mean,\u201d she told Rotten Tomatoes in 2018, \u201cnobody got paid<\/em>, anything.\u201d<\/p>\nYet while the scream queen earned four figures, director John Carpenter<\/strong>\u2019s friend Nick Castle<\/strong> felt like a king making $25 per day to share the role of Michael Myers. <\/em>(It\u2019s Anthony Moran <\/strong>whose face you see when the killer\u2019s mask comes off for a freaky second, and editor Tommy Lee Wallace<\/strong> also logged screentime as Michael.)<\/p>\n\u201cThat was a lot at the time!\u201d Castle, who attended film school at USC with Carpenter, told Vanity Fair in 2018. \u201cYou have to remember: My interest in doing the film was being on set, so I could demystify the experience of filmmaking and directing. I expected to hang around the set for no money. But hey, $25 per day, and all I had to do was wear a rubber mask.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Taraji P. Henson<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/dialog><\/div>\n\n
Taraji P. Henson earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for 2008\u2019s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button<\/em>, but years later she was still fired up by the $150,000 she accepted to be in the movie\u2014after producers rejected the $500,000 quote she brought to the table.<\/p>\nAs for the film\u2019s leads Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, \u201cYou don\u2019t hear a lot of $20 million quotes anymore, but at this time that was happening,\u201d Henson said on the Ladies First With Laura Brown podcast in 2021. \u201cAnd rightfully so\u2014I\u2019m not saying they shouldn\u2019t have paid Cate and Brad what they deserved.\u201d<\/p>\n
But, she continued, \u201cI\u2019m bringing a certain amount to the seat too and I felt like what I was asking at that time in my career was fair, was fair to the ticket sales that I would contribute to this big film. Wouldn\u2019t do it.\u201d Henson was \u201cgutted\u201d when they offered $100,000, she recalled. \u201cWhen it was all said and done I got $150,000, but I had to swallow my pride, baby.\u201d<\/p>\n
Breaking it down, \u201cI know people go, \u2018$150,000, that\u2019s a lot of money!\u2019\u201d Henson acknowledged. \u201cI don\u2019t ever want people to think that I\u2019m ungrateful because that is not me.\u201d But, she calculated, \u201cUncle Sam is going to take 50 percent of that, so now you\u2019re left with, what? $75,000. Now before Uncle Sam takes the money, I have to pay my team before taxes, 30 percent. So once Uncle Sam takes his 75, then I got another 30 that\u2019s coming off of that 75, so I may have made $40,000?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Cate Blanchett<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/dialog><\/div>\n\n
While Blanchett has made plenty of money over the years, it didn\u2019t all come from playing royal elf Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings<\/em> franchise, though it grossed $2.9 billion at the worldwide box office.<\/p>\n\u201cAre you kidding me? No,\u201d she retorted on Watch What Happens Live <\/em>in August 2024 when Andy Cohen<\/strong> guessed LOTR<\/em> was her biggest paycheck. \u201cNo one got paid anything to do that movie\u2026I mean, I basically got free sandwiches, and I got to keep my ears.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nOrlando Bloom<\/p>\n