10 highest-paid roles for Hollywood actresses ever, ranked: from Marvel’s Angelina Jolie in Eternals and Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, to Jennifer Aniston in Friends

Aug 31 , 2021

The 10 highest-paid roles for Hollywood actresses, ranked, including Friends’ Jennifer Aniston, Black Widow’s Scarlett Johansson, Angelina Jolie in Eternals and Cameron Diaz in Bad Teacher. Photos: EPA, AFP, Shutterstock

Jennifer Lawrence will get US$25 million for Netflix’s Don’t Look Up, also starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Timothée Chalamet and Meryl Streep

Emma Watson earned US$60 million as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films – but that still doesn’t beat Daniel Craig’s US$100 million for the Knives Out sequels

Earlier this week, we learned that British actor Daniel Craig is set to receive the gargantuan sum of US$100 million (making him the highest-paid actor in Hollywood today) for Netflix’s Knives Out sequels, as reported by Variety.

While pay disparity is still an ongoing issue, with female stars often earning less than their male counterparts, there have been a select few actresses who have snagged huge pay cheques (albeit still a far cry from Craig’s fee) for a single film or TV role – starting with this top 10.

Scarlett Johansson – US$95 million

Scarlett Johansson in a still from Black Widow. Photo: Marvel Studios/Disney

Notwithstanding her ongoing Black Widow lawsuit with Disney, Scarlett Johansson tops the list thanks to her portrayals of Natasha Romanoff. According to Yahoo! Finance, Johansson has earned a total of US$75 million from the nine Marvel films she was in (spanning the Iron Man, Captain America, and The Avengers franchises, among other cameos).

Meanwhile, she received US$20 million for the Black Widow stand-alone film, which sees her total earnings for a single role jump up to US$95 million.

Sandra Bullock – US$70 million

A film still from Gravity directed by Alfonso Cuarón, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. Photo: Handout

Sandra Bullock has helped pave the way for actresses to earn higher salaries, earning US$10.5 million for Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997) and US$17.5 million for Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous (2005). However, those pay bumps are measly compared to her more than US$70 million pay cheque for the box-office hit Gravity (2013).

Bullock received an upfront advance of US$20 million from Warner Bros, with 15 per cent of “first-dollar gross”. According to Celebrity Net Worth, this means that “for every dollar the studio ever received for Gravity, 15 per cent would go to Sandra before any costs for production or marketing were taken out”.