Octavia Spencer may have an Oscar under her belt and has just received an Emmy nominee for the first time, but the actress says she is still not being paid what she feels she deserves.
Spencer is nominated for lead actress in a limited series or movie for her work on “Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker.”
She sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to speak about the role and her values as a Black actress in Hollywood.
“Oh, I haven’t gotten paid what I feel I deserve. Not yet. But I always get a raise. Every single job, I get a raise. I don’t think any woman has really gotten what she deserves. But when I ask for something and they don’t meet it, I’m always willing to walk away,” Spencer told the publication.
She recognizes that she was not always in a position where she could turn down roles, but offered sage words of advice to rising Black actresses who may find themselves in a similar predicament.
“I haven’t always been in this position; there were times when I had to take what was being offered. But I can guaran-damn-tee you that my agent always made sure I got a raise,” she insists. “Always advance your position. Always. Sometimes it means, “Hey, I’m sorry, if I’m not getting what I need, then I’m going to have to move on to a place that does value me.” When you are starting out, show how hard you work. There’s always room for advancement. Educate yourself on what everybody else in the market is getting, and then you ask for what you deserve. You’re not always going to get it, but you also have to be willing to walk away at some point.”
Spencer is not the first to speak on being undervalued in the entertainment industry. Just last month, a 2018 viral clip of Viola Davis, another award-winning Black actress, went viral.
“I got the Oscar, I got the Emmy, I got the two Tonys, I’ve done Broadway, I’ve done off-Broadway, I’ve done TV, I’ve done film, I’ve done all of it,” she told Tina Brown in the clip.
“I have a career that’s probably comparable to Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Sigourney Weaver. They all came out of Yale, they came out of Juilliard (which Davis attended), they came out of NYU. They had the same path as me, and yet I am nowhere near them. Not as far as money, not as far as job opportunities. nowhere close to it. But I have to get on that phone and people say you’re a Black Meryl Streep. There is no one like you. OK, then if there’s no one like me, you think I’m that, you pay me what I’m worth.”
The industry has been frustratingly slow to rectify its marking down of the Black actress.
