10 Actors Who Were Paid Shockingly Little For Famous Roles

8. Barkhad Abdi - Captain Phillips - $65,000

Despite the fact that many critics and audiences members alike claimed he was the best thing in Paul Greengrass' Somalian pirate flick Captain Phillips, Barkhad Abdi didn't get anywhere near the sort of money that Tom Hanks almost definitely did for his role as Abduwali Muse, the pirate leader. Although Captain Phillips had a whopping budget of $55 million, Barkhad Abdi received a surprisingly low salary of $65,000 was his brilliant performance. This relatively minuscule rate - by Hollywood standards, at least - stems from the fact that Captain Phillips was Abdi's first film, and he was therefore offered just over the Screen Actor's Guild minimum rate for a feature film, which is $60,000 dollars. Given the level of acclaim that Adbi received for his role, and how central he was to the success of the movie overall, it's a salary that feels fairly unjust - no wonder Abdi is still having money issues now.