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For the First Time in Her Career, Priyanka Chopra Is Making As Much As Her Male Costar

The actress is set to star in Amazon Prime Video’s upcoming sci-fi spy series ‘Citadel.’

Ananya Panchal

Priyanka Chopra.

Priyanka Chopra.

Few have dominated two major film industries like Priyanka Chopra, who has become a fan favorite in Hollywood and a legend in Bollywood.

Yet, even at the top of her field, she is still paid less than her male costars.

“I’ve never had pay parity in Bollywood,” Chopra, who appeared in more than 60 films throughout her career in India, told BBC. “I would get paid about 10% of the salary of my male co-actor. [The pay gap] is large, substantially large. And so many women still deal with that.”

She noted that Hollywood, until now, had been no different. It took 22 years for her to land a lead role, in the upcoming spy series Citadel, in which she finally is being paid as much as her male counterpart.

“Well, the first time it’s happened to me; it has happened in Hollywood,” the mom to almost 1-year-old Malti Marie said. “So I don’t know going forward. Because this was my first show with a male actor as a co-lead.”

In 2015, Chopra became the first South Asian to break through the U.S. industry in a major way when she landed her own TV show, Quantico.

“I would go into meetings by myself, introduce myself and take my show reel. I worked with acting coaches and dialect coaches,” she explained. “I did auditions, got rejected, cried, then went back for another one. I did the hustle that I needed to do to make it in any new industry. It was a humbling experience.”

The 40-year-old noted that although she has made a name for herself, she still struggles to get mainstream work because of her ethnicity.

“I think maybe I’ve built a certain amount of credibility, and so I’m doing interesting work,” she continued. “We’ll see if that’s accepted or not. It’s really hard to be South Asian and Indian in Hollywood. There’s still a long way to go.”

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Ananya Panchal
ANANYA PANCHAL

Ananya Panchal is a NYC-based Lifestyle & Trending News writer at SI Swimsuit. Before joining the Swim team, the Boston University Alum worked for culture & entertainment beats at Bustle, The San Francisco Chronicle and the TODAY Show. When Ananya is not writing or doom-scrolling on social media, she can be found playing sudoku, rewatching One Tree Hill or trying new restaurants. She's also a coffee and chocolate (separately) enthusiast. 

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