‘King Richard’ Star Aunjanue Ellis Reveals She Wrote Will Smith A Letter Informing Him She Wasn’t Paid Fairly: Not Only Did He Increase My Pay, But Other Actors Also Had Their Pay Increased

March 19, 2022 by Ariel Whitely in Film with 0 Comments

Will Smith, Aunjanue Ellis

‘King Richard’ Star Aunjanue Ellis Reveals She Wrote Will Smith A Letter Informing Him She Wasn’t Paid Fairly: Not Only Did He Increase My Pay, But Other Actors Also Had Their Pay Increased

King Richard co-star Aunjanue Ellis is opening up about the fight for equal pay for black women in Hollywood. The biographical sports drama released in November 2021, dives into the life of tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams and their family. The Oscar-Nominated film is also up for Best Picture and five other categories at this year’s Academy Awards.

Will Smith

Will Smith, who’s nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for playing father and coach Richard Williams, reportedly received about $40 million for the film, and then used his own money to pay bonuses to the cast of King Richard, including Saniyya Sidney (Venus) and Demi Singleton (Serena), as well as Tony Goldwyn, Jon Bernthal and Aunjanue Ellis, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

In a recent interview on The Breakfast Club, Aunjanue Ellis, who’s also nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her role as Oracene Price, the queen to king Richard, vocalized her thoughts on the positive impact fellow co-star Will Smith displayed to her while working together.

Aunjanue Ellis confirms that Will Smith gave everyone bonuses and that she wrote a letter to him stating she wasn’t comfortable with the amount of compensation she received, but notes the most important takeaway. She begins with,

“I think it’s important that I say this, after you get the job, the fight is not over. You have to fight to get paid, and I did that job and I’m thankful for it, but you know I could’ve gotten paid better, and so I told him this. And he did something about it.”

She says,

“Not only did he address that with increasing my pay, but the other actors in the movie also got their pay increased, which is the proof of when black women do well, everybody does well.”

She continued,

“I think it’s important that first of all, people know who this man is and what he did and first of all and also that you know, black women still have to fight to get paid equally, fairly.”

Smith, producer and star in the film, was ‘honored’ to give cast bonuses for putting in brilliant work and sticking around during Covid19 shutdowns. Ellis explained,

“Speaking for myself, whoever your agent is, they can fight for having the best thing for you, but if you’re working within a system that doesn’t believe the work of black women is as important as the work of white men, no matter how much they fight, it doesn’t matter, because that’s still a reality. And there’s not a black woman in the world who has had my path, essentially, who doesn’t have that story.”