There are heaps of actors out there who command huge salaries for their roles. For example, Dwayne Johnson earned a whopping $50 million for his role in Red One in 2024. On top of this, he received backend payments, taking his payday all the way up to $88 million.
Of course, these kind of roles take a lot of time and effort. However, there are actors out there who have earned huge salaries for very small roles and even cameos. These types of roles can often see an actor only walking onto set for a single day, making their earnings all the more impressive. So, here’s 5 times actors made huge salaries for tiny roles.
5. Sean Connery in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
Sean Connery‘s James Bond days were long behind him when he starred in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves in 1991. However, he was still a big enough name to charge a substantial amount of money. While it may not sound so expensive in today’s standards, Connery took home $250,000 for his role as King Richard. Adjusted for inflation, this would be around $590,000 today. Yet, believe it or not, Connery initially asked for a salary of $1 million, but the project was already close to going over budget. While it may seem that Connery was money-grabbing, he donated his entire salary to a Scottish hospital. Working on the film for just one day, Connery only appeared on screen for close to two minutes of screen time, yet his scene was a standout of the picture.
4. Sylvester Stallone in Armor (2024)
In 2013, Sylvester Stallone publicly criticized Bruce Willis, calling him “greedy and lazy” after negotiations broke down regarding Willis’s salary for The Expendables 3. Reportedly, Willis demanded $4 million for a four-day shoot, while Stallone was only willing to pay $3 million. Stallone’s main gripe with this was the fact that Willis was effectively demanding $1 million a day. So, it’s rather ironic that just over a decade later, Stallone himself demanded a massive payday for a small role in a movie.
In the B-movie realm of action movies, it is fairly common for the majority of the film’s budget to go to a high profile actor who can reel people in. These roles are usually supporting roles or even cameos. In 2024’s Armor, Sylvester Stallone was reportedly paid $3.5 million for a single day’s work. The film opened to a 0% score on Rotten Tomatoes and was heavily bashed for Stallone’s limited time on screen despite being the main focus of the trailer.
3. Marlon Brando in Superman (1978)
After the immense success of The Godfather, near enough everyone involved became a hot ticket in Hollywood. Writer Mario Puzo was paid a staggering $1 million to write a one-page treatment for the 1978 movie, Superman. However, Marlon Brando‘s salary for his small role was even more impressive.
Starring as Superman’s biological father Jor-El, Brando only graced the screen for 20 minutes. However, due to his status as an Oscar-winning actor in one of the most acclaimed movies ever made, he reportedly commanded a salary of $3.7 million. What’s more, he landed a backend deal of 11.75%. For a long time, this role was considered to be the best payday any actor had ever made in Hollywood. And to showcase just how astonishing it really was, today, this salary would equate to over $18 million.
2. Ajay Devgn in RRR (2022)
Ajay Devgn may not be considered extremely well-known to mainstream audiences, but he is one of the most prolific actors in Hindi cinema. However, after the sweeping action epic RRR gained popularity worldwide, Devgn soon became known to the masses. So, one would assume this would explain his massive salary, but at the time of filming, nobody expected the film to do so well globally. In fact, he struck a decent deal early on, making for a standout in the list of huge salaries for small roles.
For his cameo role as Venkata Rama Raju, Devgn became the highest-paid OTT star in the country. According to The Times of India, he commanded a record-breaking Rs 35 crore for his 8-minute scene. This equates to a staggering Rs 4.35 crore per minute. Converted to US dollars, that’s $4.7 million. Although this created some fiction in the industry, many hailed his role in the film as the most crucial one, bringing forth his trademark wit and intensity with ease.
1. Ving Rhames in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)
It’s common knowledge by now that Tom Cruise commands huge salaries for his movies. In 2025, it was reported that he earned between $100-$120 million for his role in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. However, technically a fellow Mission: Impossible actor out-earned him in an earlier movie. In 2011, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol sparked intense debates in Hollywood circles when it was revealed that Ving Rhames earned a gigantic salary for his cameo role in the film.
Playing Luther Stickell, Rhames is the only actor aside from Tom Cruise to appear in all of the Mission: Impossible movies. However, his part in Ghost Protocol was minuscule, only featuring for 39 seconds. Despite this, his payday was a massive $7.7 million. This makes him the highest-paid actor for the smallest amount of screen time in cinema history. Speculation is that this came about due to Rhames’ role being cut down dramatically, yet he still received his initial asking salary.
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