Priyanka Chopra Jonas is taking her “Citadel” experience to the bank.
“[W]hen I did ‘Citadel,’ it was the first time in my career that I had pay parity with my male co-actor. The first time in 22 years. And I wonder why did that happen?” the 40-year-old actor said Friday — according to Variety — at the South by Southwest Film and TV Festival in Austin, Texas.
Chopra Jonas was talking with Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios, which will debut global spy adventure “Citadel” in late April. The TV series stars Richard Madden, the “male co-actor” in question. Also in the cast: Stanley Tucci, Ashleigh Cummings, Lesley Manville and Timothy Busfield.
The “Quantico” actor, who is married to musician Nick Jonas, wondered whether having a woman in charge made the difference in her salary. “It’s kind of nuts, I put in the same amount of service time, I put in the same amount of investment and work, but I get paid much less,” she said, according to the Hollywood Reporter, referring to her 70-odd previous acting jobs.
“But the ease in which Amazon Studios said, ‘That’s what you deserve, you are co-leads, that’s just fair,’ and I was like, ‘You’re right, it’s fair.’ And I wonder: Did that happen because there are very few female decision-makers in Hollywood? Would that have been a different conversation if a woman didn’t make that decision?”
Salke wasn’t 100% sure she made a difference. But maybe she did?
“There was just no question to me that that was the absolute right thing to do,” the executive said. “Whether that would have happened or not had I’ve been there, I can’t speak to that. I have great male and female allies who are at our company who’ve been working for me and with me, who know now to make space and to stop and think and do the gut check.”
Salke said she sees changes around pay parity happening in her industry and finds it “encouraging and inspiring.”
“Citadel” premieres April 28 on Prime Video.