Scarlett Johansson Is ‘Disappointed’ To Be The Highest Grossing Actress

On Thursday it was revealed that Scarlett Johansson is the highest grossing actress of all time at the US box office, with a $3.3 billion gross from her 37 movies.

Yesterday, however, the Avengers star revealed that it was 'disappointing' for her to be the only female star to make the top ten.

Speaking to Extra TV at the Gene Siskel Film Centre's annual gala, she appeared to be in two minds about her latest accolade, claiming 'It’s exciting to be the only woman in the category,' before considering that 'It’s kind of disappointing, actually, to be the only woman in this category, that was a little bit of a surprise to me.'

Scarlett's comments on the disparity between how much actors and actresses can earn in Hollywood echo those recently made by the likes of Jennifer Lawrence, Robin Wright and Diane Kruger.

Ahead of Scarlett were Harrison Ford, Samuel L. Jackson, Morgan Freeman, Tom Hanks, her Avengers co-star Robert Downey Jr, Eddie Murphy, Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp and Michael Caine.

After Johansson, Cameron Diaz was the next highest grossing actress, who ranked at 19 after grossing $3.03 billion across 34 films.

A number of actresses (and actors) have spoken out about their experiences of the gender pay gap. Read below for their powerful, and shocking, quotes...

Diane Kruger

In an interview with Town and Country the actress revealed that she has never been paid the same as her male co-stars.

'I have yet to be paid the same amount as a male co-star,' she said. 'And absolutely I've been labelled a bitch, or difficult to work with, when I've spoken up about something. Or it's 'She doesn't really know what she's talking about."'

Robin Wright

Earlier this year, Robin Wright spoke publicly for the first time about her struggle to receive equal pay for her role in House of Cards. The actress revealed that she threatened studio bosses that she would go public if they did not pay her the same as her co-star Kevin Spacey.

Speaking at the Rockefeller Centre in New York, Wright explained she would never except being paid less simply because of her gender.

"It was the perfect paradigm. There are very few films or TV shows where the male, the patriarch, and the matriarch are equal. They are in House of Cards. I was looking into the statistics and Claire Underwood's character was more popular than [Frank's] for a period of time. So I capitalised on it. I was like: 'You'd better pay me or I'm going public.'"

Carey Mulligan

Carey Mulligan is the latest Hollywood star to talk about the Hollywood Pay Gap, telling CNN: "I agree there's an imbalance and it needs to be corrected and I think it's good that people are speaking out about it. But I think people listen to what you have to say in this industry because you're well known and therefore you have a platform. I think if we're going to talk about the pay gap in Hollywood, it has to have a wider impact, it has to be about the rest of society. It can't just be about actors and actresses. It needs to be about how women are paid in the boardroom. It needs to have a broader impact than just this conversation."

Bradley Cooper

Bradley Cooper is showing men how it's done by negotiating equal pay for his co-stars. He said to Reuters of Amy Adams' salary for* American Hustle*: “She worked everyday on that movie and got paid nothing. It’s really horrible actually, it’s almost embarrassing.”

He said that going forward he would “[team] up with his female co-stars to negotiate salaries before any film he is interested in working on goes into production." What a gentleman. Are you listening all leading men/ bosses out there?

Rooney Mara

“I’ve been in films where I’ve found out my male co-star got paid double what I got paid, and it’s just a reality of the time that we live in. To me, it’s frustrating, but at the same time, I’m just grateful to be getting paid at all for what I do.” She told the Guardian: “It’s not fair, but I think about how much teachers are getting paid, or other people who are doing jobs that are so much more important than what I do, and it’s kind of hard to complain about.”

“I’ve been called horrible things. If a man was acting in the same way that I was acting, it would just be considered normal. To me, that’s the thing I find so frustrating is calling women spoiled brats and bitches. We just want to have a voice in our life, and I don’t think that’s anything that shouldn’t be encouraged in any human.”

Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer wrote an essay about gender pay gap in Lena Dunham's newsletter, Lenny. She wrote: "It’s hard for me to speak about my experience as a working woman because I can safely say my problems aren’t exactly relatable. When the Sony hack happened and I found out how much less I was being paid than the lucky people with dicks, I didn’t get mad at Sony. I got mad at myself. I failed as a negotiator because I gave up early. I didn’t want to keep fighting over millions of dollars that, frankly, due to two franchises, I don’t need. (I told you it wasn’t relatable, don’t hate me)."

“I’m over trying to find the ‘adorable’ way to state my opinion and still be likable! F*** that. I don’t think I’ve ever worked for a man in charge who spent time contemplating what angle he should use to have his voice heard. It's just heard.”

Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth said in an interview with Variety: "Your salary is a way to quantify what you're worth. If men are being paid a lot more for doing the same thing, it feels sh*tty."** **

Meryl Streep

When asked if she is paid less than her male co-stars Meryl said: “Of course I do. Oh yes, oh yes, in the past. Or we have to be made equal. That [Oscar nominations] doesn’t matter - they will point to box office, even though Mama Mia has made over a billion dollars - that women films don’t sell. There is this ancient sort of wisdom that it is very difficult to move through. I will say it has to do with the distribution of films, how films are financed - in the 10 top buyers in the US for films in every territory there is not one woman."

She continued: "If the people that are choosing what goes into the multiplexes are of all one persuasion the choice will be limited and that will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. You see, these are the biggest money makers. There is not transparency - it is very difficult for you to go to your male colleagues and say ‘what are you making? It’s all of our jobs and mens jobs - men have to feel icky. If there were more transparency - if men helped us and opened the door, [it would be] the new chivalry."

Keira Knightley

Keira said: “I don’t know what happened through the 1980s, 90s and noughties that took feminism off the table, that made it something that women weren’t supposed to identify with and were supposed to be ashamed of. Feminism is about the fight for equality between the sexes, with equal respect, equal pay and equal opportunity. At the moment we are still a long way off that.”

Sandra Bullock

In an interview with Variety, Bullock claimed the pay disparity is part of a wider issue of gender inequality in Hollywood, and once the latter is taken care of, equal pay will follow suit. 'We’re mocked and judged in the media and articles,' she said of women to the magazine. 'I always make a joke: "Watch, we’re going to walk down the red carpet, I’m going to be asked about my dress and my hair while the man standing next to me will be asked about his performance and political issues."

'Once we start shifting how we perceive women and stop thinking about them as 'less than,' the pay disparity will take care of itself... there are a lot of outspoken, narcissistic actors like myself who are very happy to talk about the issue and keep it alive.'