Paramount Pictures; MGM; ThinkFilm In case you haven't heard, Jonah Hill is now a two-time Oscar nominee.
The 30-year-old star was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor his role opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in the Martin Scorsese-directed film The Wolf of Wall Street on Thursday, Jan. 16.
"I am in complete and total shock," Hill, who was previously nominated in 2011 for Moneyball, said in a statement. "I honestly was not expecting this, on a level you can't even imagine. Again, I'm clearly in shock. I didn't have a plan for celebrating today because I truly did not expect any of this...Truly, this is shocking."
And here's the real shocker: he was only paid $60,000 to play stockbroker Donnie Azoff.
But Hill is hardly the first actor who happily worked for scale in order to take on a career changing role. Here are 6 more actors who starred in a movie for a shockingly low salary:
1. Jon Voight, Midnight Cowboy: The Oscar winner's portrayal of male prostitute Joe Buck in the 1969 film served as the catalyst for his legendary acting career, and the 75-year-old star gladly accepted a small payment for the role because he saw such strong potential in the part. "I said, 'Tell them I'll do this part for nothing." he recalled in an interview in August 2013. "They took me at my word and they gave me minimum for Midnight Cowboy." Calling the experience "the worst" and even admitting that the studio sent him a "$14.73 coffee shop charge," Voight said the film was well worth the paltry paycheck. "I knew what it meant," he said. "It was going to give me a career, and I was right."
2. Brad Pitt, Thelma and Louise: While the A-lister may be one of the most famous (and sought-after) actors on the planet, he was once a young stud simply trying to make it in the Hollywood biz. According to IMDb, Angelina Jolie's mister earned just $6,000 for his role in his iconic breakout film Thelma and Louise, in which he starred opposite Geena Davis. Safe to say Pitt's since upped his movie making ante—having reportedly earned $30 million for the 2005 film Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
3. George Clooney, Good Night, and Good Luck: The 52-year-old stud surely earned a hefty paycheck for his role his latest flick Gravity, which is currently nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture, although he took a serious pay cut in 2005 for Good Night, and Good Luck which he co-wrote, directed and starred in. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the A-lister—who took home over $10 million for 2000's The Perfect Storm—made only $120,000, with no backend. The labor-of-love film earned six Academy Award nominations.
4. Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson: After the hottie stole every woman's heart in The Notebook, the 33-year-old actor went on to play a drug-addicted high school teacher in Half Nelson, a role for which he only earned $1000 per week, according to IMDb. While Gosling may not have played his signature swoon-worthy character, he earned strong reviews for his performance in the Ryan Fleck-directed flick. And he reportedly went on to earn over $1 million for his next film Fracture, in which he starred opposite Anthony Hopkins.
5. Bill Murray, Rushmore: Despite the fact that the funnyguy was already a bona fide legend by the time he was cast in 1998 flick, he still earned just $9,000 for his role as Herman Blume in the Wes Anderson-directed comedy-drama. In fact, Murray's Rushmore bank account would have ended with a negative balance if Anderson had cashed the check the actor famously wrote to cover the cost of a helicopter shot. Luckily, Murray negotiated an undisclosed percentage of the film's profits. And the part paid off in other ways, as Murray went on to earn a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor that same year.
6. Ethan Hawke, The Purge: The 43-year-old actor signed on to star in director James DeMonaco's 2013 thriller for almost next to nothing upfront simply because he saw something special in the role. "There were no perks," he told The Hollywood Reporter in June 2013. "No trailer, no driver, no BS, just a great role, a great director." In the end, however, it all paid off, as Hawke agreed to an undisclosed percentage of the film's profits with The Purge making more than $89 million worldwide.