John Boyega And Daisy Ridley's Paychecks For Star Wars: The Force Awakens May Surprise You

While the life of an actor might seem insanely glamorous, there are actually quite a lot of challenges that happen behind the scenes that audiences may never know of. From required name changes to arduous working hours, perhaps being an actor isn't all that it appears to be. But not every challenge that an actor goes through is specifically unique to their trade — indeed, there's one particular element of being an actor that every working person will experience in their life, regardless of where they work — and that's haggling for fair pay.

It's no secret that actors are some of the highest paid people in the world, with Dwayne Johnson, Chris Hemsworth, and Robert Downey Jr. currently sitting as the top three highest paid actors as of 2021 (via Rich Updates). These actors are worth $89.4 million, $76.4 million, and $66 million, respectively. But while these numbers are certainly impressive, this is most certainly not the story for every actor, and in some cases, actors will never see this much money throughout their career.

That being said, it is still shocking to learn just how little these two "Star Wars" actors made during their first big film within the franchise. 

Did you know that "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is not only the highest grossing "Star Wars" film, but one of the highest grossing films of all time? It made just shy of $2.1 billion worldwide, per Box Office Mojo. But despite the impressive earnings from the film, its two protagonists made a shockingly low amount of money from it. Daisy Ridley and John Boyega were fresh-faced actors at the time, having only been in a few minor roles before their big ascent into the world of "Star Wars" fame. Ridley was even serving as a waitress in England around the time that she was booked as Rey, the "Force Awakens" hero and main protagonist (via ShowBiz CheatSheet). While Boyega had been moderately more well-known at the time than Ridley, his film debut being the cult classic "Attack The Block," he was still very new to the world of Hollywood acting at this time, per GQ.

According to Insider, Ridley and Boyega made somewhere between $100,000 and $300,000 for their roles in "The Force Awakens." For comparison sake, their A-List costar Harrison Ford was paid between $10 million and $20 million as Han Solo in the film, which is about 50 times more than that of his young costars (via Variety).

But don't worry about them too much. Ridley, who was not long ago earning minimum wage, is now worth a whopping $9 million, while costar Boyega is worth about $6 million (via Celebrity Net Worth).