Priyanka Chopra Jonas Says She Has Finally Achieved “Pay Parity” To Male Costar With ‘Citadel’
Priyanka Chopra Jonas is opening up about finally earning as much as her male costar in Hollywood. The Indian and South Asian actor is starring in Prime Video’s Citadel where she shares the leading role with Game of Thrones alum Richard Madden.
“I’ve never had pay parity in Bollywood. I’ve done 60-something movies, I think, but I’ve never got paid the same amount as my male co-actor. I would get paid about 10% of my male co-actor,” she revealed in an interview with BBC.
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Chopra Jonas added, “Well, the first time it’s happened to me, it has happened in Hollywood. So I don’t know, going forward. Because this was my first show with a male actor as a co-lead.”
It was in 2015 when Chopra Jonas burst into the Hollywood scene when she landed the lead role in ABC’s Quantico becoming the first South Asian to lead a network television show. She said that “so many women” in Bollywood “still deal” with not getting paid the same as their costars.
“My generation of female actors have definitely asked [for equal pay]. We’ve asked, but we’ve not got it,” she said.
Chopra Jonas also recalled that when she was starting out in Bollywood, she would notice how the male actors and female actors were treated differently.
“I thought it was absolutely OK to sit for hours and hours on set, while my male co-actor just took his own time, and decided whenever he wanted to show up on set is when we would shoot,” she revealed.
Chopra Jonas also mentioned that she was body shamed due to her complexion and attributes this to India’s “colonial past,” adding, “It’s not even been 100 years since we shed the British Raj, so we still hold on to it, I think.” She said that it’s up to the current generation to “cut those ties and change.”
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