11 Movie Actors Who Were Paid The Biggest Salary Per Words

10. Angelina Jolie - $20,934 Per Word For The Tourist

Jack Nicholson Joker Payday
Sony Pictures

Both Angelina Jolie and co-star Johnny Depp made big bucks on 2010's thriller The Tourist.

Depp's work on the picture brought him just under $20,000 per word, yet Jolie trumped that number. Speaking a total of 999 words as suspended police officer Elise Clifton-Ward, Jolie's total earnings of nearly $21 million from the picture means that she was paid $20,934 for each word uttered.

11 years on from The Tourist, Angelina Jolie - and Johnny Depp, for that matter - are still two of the highest paid actors on the planet.

As an example, Jolie was given an upfront $28 million 'basic' salary for 2019's Maleficent: Mistress of Evil. For that film's predecessor, the actress took home a reported $33 million by the time her standard salary and additional percentages and returns were taken into account.

What you'll notice as this list goes on, though, is how Angelina Jolie is one of only two women to be featured here. However, despite the clear, scary disparity often seen in Hollywood paydays between men and women, Jolie is one of the few females who is able to command as much, if not more, than her males colleagues across the movie industry.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.