# Highest salary for an actor who was acting in a movie for the very first time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [August 17, 2021, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-salary-for-an-actor-who-was-acting-in-a-movie-for-the-very-first-time/949036 "2021-08-17T20:24:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-salary-for-an-actor-who-was-acting-in-a-movie-for-the-very-first-time/949036/1 "2021-08-17T20:24:05Z")
Random trivia question that I’m trying to find the answer to, to no avail: What is the highest salary that was ever paid to an actor or actress who was acting in a movie for the very first time ever in their career? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-salary-for-an-actor-who-was-acting-in-a-movie-for-the-very-first-time/949036/2 "2021-08-17T20:50:39Z")
Probably someone who was already famous when cast. Maybe Barbra Streisand in _Funny_ _Girl_? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-salary-for-an-actor-who-was-acting-in-a-movie-for-the-very-first-time/949036/3 "2021-08-17T21:19:24Z")
Michael Jordan in _Space Jam_? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-salary-for-an-actor-who-was-acting-in-a-movie-for-the-very-first-time/949036/4 "2021-08-17T21:25:52Z")
Dwayne Johnson? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-salary-for-an-actor-who-was-acting-in-a-movie-for-the-very-first-time/949036/5 "2021-08-17T21:33:44Z")
Ah yeah, those guess probably make sense, someone famous to begin with. What about someone who wasn’t famous - what’s the highest they were ever paid first time? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-salary-for-an-actor-who-was-acting-in-a-movie-for-the-very-first-time/949036/6 "2021-08-17T21:38:04Z")
Maybe an unknown cast for a blockbuster lead? Someone like Jake Lloyd, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-salary-for-an-actor-who-was-acting-in-a-movie-for-the-very-first-time/949036/7 "2021-08-17T21:59:55Z")
For unknowns making their film debut: Not Jake Lloyd, since _Phantom Menace_ wasn’t his first movie. Christopher Reeve got a mere $250,000 for _Superman_, while Marlon Brando got over $3 million. George Lazenby got a paltry $80,000 for his one Bond movie. Connery got $1 million to return two years later. Those examples are over 40 years old, so there may be something higher by now. Although, as a data point, Daisy Ridley got somewhere between $100,000 and $300,000 for _The Force Awakens_ (her second film), the same ballpark as Reeve almost 40 years earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-salary-for-an-actor-who-was-acting-in-a-movie-for-the-very-first-time/949036/8 "2021-08-17T22:01:13Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Maybe an unknown cast for a blockbuster lead? Someone like Jake Lloyd, perhaps? TMP wasn’t Lloyd’s first film, but you’re probably right about Emma Watson and Rupert Grint (Daniel Radcliffe had some prior film experience). I know that Watson made something like $70 million from the Harry Potter films as a whole. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-salary-for-an-actor-who-was-acting-in-a-movie-for-the-very-first-time/949036/9 "2021-08-17T22:05:51Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Dwayne Johnson? I found a [website](https://findanyanswer.com/how-much-did-the-rock-get-paid-for-the-mummy-returns) that says Johnson was paid $5,500,000 for _The Mummy Returns_, which the website said was “among the highest salaries any untested actor has ever earned for a starring role.” ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-salary-for-an-actor-who-was-acting-in-a-movie-for-the-very-first-time/949036/10 "2021-08-17T22:10:50Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I found a [website](https://findanyanswer.com/how-much-did-the-rock-get-paid-for-the-mummy-returns) that says Johnson was paid $5,500,000 for _The Mummy Returns_ , which the website said was “among the highest salaries any untested actor has ever earned for a starring role.” But does that count as his “first film role?” He’d previously appeared in _The Mummy Returns_, but only as a CGI monster. Before that, he’d been in a wrestling documentary. For most celebrities-turned-actors, I could see an exception for non-fiction roles where they appeared as themselves, but does that count for a professional wrestler? To what extent does appearing as “The Rock” in a wrestling documentary count as playing a fictional character? ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-salary-for-an-actor-who-was-acting-in-a-movie-for-the-very-first-time/949036/11 "2021-08-17T22:45:12Z")
In the Mummy Returns, he was mostly a voice, and the documentary was a documentary. I’d say it counts. Especially since the question is about appearing in a movie, so TV stars would be counted - someone who performed as a wrestler on TV and in a documentary should count. Anyway… it depends how the question-setter has defined their boundaries. I bet it’ll be someone from the silent movie era, or a child star from the early days whose pay is now huge with inflation. So maybe Charlie Chaplin or someone like that. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-salary-for-an-actor-who-was-acting-in-a-movie-for-the-very-first-time/949036/12 "2021-08-17T22:52:40Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > > > I found a [website](https://findanyanswer.com/how-much-did-the-rock-get-paid-for-the-mummy-returns) that says Johnson was paid $5,500,000 for _The Mummy Returns_ , which the website said was “among the highest salaries any untested actor has ever earned for a starring role.” > > But does that count as his “first film role?” He’d previously appeared in _The Mummy Returns_, He’d previously appeared in — the same movie? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-salary-for-an-actor-who-was-acting-in-a-movie-for-the-very-first-time/949036/13 "2021-08-17T22:58:41Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > So maybe Charlie Chaplin or someone like that. Chaplin was first hired by a film company on a $150 a week contract. His first film started production in “late January,” and was released February 2nd, 1915. So, at most he got two weeks pay for that film - $300. Which, according to a random inflation calculator I found online, works out to about 8,000 in 2021 dollars. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-salary-for-an-actor-who-was-acting-in-a-movie-for-the-very-first-time/949036/14 "2021-08-17T23:05:26Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > He’d previously appeared in — the same movie? Ha! Wow. Weird reading comprehension failure on my part. In my defense, I had just been looking at [this cite](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0277296/trivia/?ref_=tt_trv_trv), which attributes the $5.5 million paycheck to _The Scorpion King_. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-salary-for-an-actor-who-was-acting-in-a-movie-for-the-very-first-time/949036/15 "2021-08-17T23:05:44Z")
Wow, that was a very different time… A movie released two weeks after production started? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-salary-for-an-actor-who-was-acting-in-a-movie-for-the-very-first-time/949036/16 "2021-08-17T23:08:36Z")
It helps that it was only twelve and half minutes long. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2021, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-salary-for-an-actor-who-was-acting-in-a-movie-for-the-very-first-time/949036/17 "2021-08-18T00:26:15Z")
Neil Armstrong. It costs skatey eight bazillion dollars for us to watch him hop around the moon mumbling platitudes. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2021, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-salary-for-an-actor-who-was-acting-in-a-movie-for-the-very-first-time/949036/18 "2021-08-18T00:33:30Z")
Yeah but he wasn’t paid much. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2021, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-salary-for-an-actor-who-was-acting-in-a-movie-for-the-very-first-time/949036/19 "2021-08-18T01:21:06Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > Neil Armstrong. So how much did Kubrick pay him? _[ducks] [runs] [more ducking]_ . > Not Jake Lloyd, since _Phantom Menace_ wasn’t his first movie. It is REALLY hard to believe he’d acted before. Of course, that may say more about the director than the actor. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2021, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-salary-for-an-actor-who-was-acting-in-a-movie-for-the-very-first-time/949036/20 "2021-08-18T01:33:31Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > In my defense, I had just been looking at [this cite](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0277296/trivia/?ref_=tt_trv_trv), which attributes the $5.5 million paycheck to _The Scorpion King_. I’m speculating here, but he may have gotten one contract (and one paycheck) for agreeing to appear in both movies. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-salary-for-an-actor-who-was-acting-in-a-movie-for-the-very-first-time/949036.md?page=2)