Former House of Cards star Robin Wright has claimed that she couldn’t get equal pay on the Netflix series because, unlike her co-star Kevin Spacey, she hadn’t won an Oscar.
Wright played the wife of the show’s protagonist Frank Underwood (Spacey) during all six seasons of the hit political thriller, which earned one Golden Globe award and eight Emmy nominations.
Speaking to Variety at the Monte-Carlo TV Festival, Wright recalled that, despite the success of the show, she struggled to get equal pay.
Reflecting on confronting executives about the issue, the 59-year-old revealed: “When I said, ‘I think it’s only fair because my character became as popular as [Spacey’s], they said: ‘We can’t pay you the same as an actor, so we will make you exec producer and you can direct. We will give you three different paychecks.’ I asked, ‘Why can’t you pay me as an actor?’ ‘Because you didn’t win an Academy Award.’”
After questioning this decision, Wright was told: “That has been the protocol for years.”
“If you say, ‘Why did so-and-so female not get the same amount as Will Smith?’ they say, ‘It will increase after you win.’ Nomination, not so much. Why does it have to do anything with a raise?”
Spacey, who has been ostracised by Hollywood after sexual misconduct allegations were made against him, has won two Oscars during his career. His first arrived for Best Supporting Actor in 1996 for his role in The Usual Suspects and another came in 2000, when he won Best Actor for playing Lester Burnham in American Beauty.
Wright has never received a single Oscar nomination in her career, despite starring in many films recognised by the Academy, including Forrest Gump (1994), Moneyball (2011) and The Girl wuth the Dragon Tattoo (2011).
The actor, though, is thankful to the House of Cards team for allowing her to direct several episodes, which she called a “gift”.
“It was the camera operator on House of Cards who said, ‘Why don’t you just try?’” Wright said. “I learned so much on that show. I didn’t feel any pressure. I was encouraged to do it.”
Wright has since gone on to direct the 2021 survival drama Land, two episodes of the Netflix thriller Ozark and an episode of the psychological drama Tell Me Lies. Her next project is the Amazon MGM Studios thriller The Girlfriend.
