Image Credit: Hindustan Times[/caption]Olivia Colman, the award-winning actress is opening up about the pay disparity that exists in the glamorous world of Hollywood. The Academy Award and Emmy-winning actress who is relaxing in the release of her recent comedy Wicked Little Letters, recently appeared on CNN’s The Amanpour Hour. here she makes comments about the wide pay gap between female and male actors in Hollywood saying if she were a male actor named Oliver Colman she “be earning a f*** of a lot more”. Talking on the subject in the interview, the actress said, “Don’t get me started on the pay disparity, but male actors get paid more because they used to say they drew in the audiences. And actually, that hasn’t been true for decades but they still like to use that as a reason to not pay women as much as their male counterparts.”
It is quite hard to believe that despite being an Oscar-winning actress, Olivia has such strong views coming from countless experiences of pay disparity in the industry. So the host further asked if this is something that she experienced herself even after winning the biggest award in the film world, the Oscar. Olivia said in response, "I'm very aware that if I was Oliver Colman, I'd be earning a f*** of a lot more than I am. I know of one pay disparity, which is a 12,000 percent difference."
Olivia Colman won the Oscar award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for 'The Favourite', directed by Yorgos Lanthimos in 2019. But this was not the only time she was nominated or considered to be a heavyweight name for the category. Since then, the talented actress has been nominated twice at the Academy Awards, for Best Supporting Actress in The Father; and Best Actress for The Lost Daughter. Her multiple recognition in the industry does not stop here. Olivia also won an Emmy for Lead Actress in a Drama series. She got the Emmy for starring as Queen Elizabeth II in Season 4 of the hit Netflix show The Crown.
Olivia is recently seen in the 'Wicked Little Letters'. This is a British black mystery film also starring Jessie Buckley and directed by Thea Sharrock. The film revolves around a real-life scandal where residents of Littlehampton start receiving letters filled with obscenities and hilarious profanity. This leads to more chaos in the community where Olivia plays the character of Edith Swan. Other than this, she has also appeared in hit television series like Broadchurch and Hearstopper.
Coleman is the latest Hollywood actress to call out the inequalities in wages. Taraji P. Henson has also been raising her voice against the devaluation of black actresses. The star revealed while promoting ‘The Color Purple’ that she almost quit the industry for how ridiculously underpaid she was for her work. “I’m just tired of working so hard, being gracious at what I do, getting paid a fraction of the cost,” Henson said during an appearance on Gayle King’s SiriusXM show on December 2023.
