Black women are leading the pack in many fields, so it is not a surprise that these 10 Black female celebs are doing the same. Black social commentators from ThatSister compiled this list of media moguls, actresses, and artists of highest-earning African-American female celebrities.
Hollywood has been known to have an issue with the gender pay gap, with its female stars earning an estimated $1 million less than their male co-stars and African American women in particular earning even less. Viola Davis spoke about this issue in her article in W Magazine, stating, “We get paid probably a tenth of what a Caucasian woman gets.”
EGOT Whoopi Goldberg ranks Number 5 at $60 million. She and our top-ranking earner shared roles in the Golden Globe-winning motion picture The Color Purple with Goldberg winning best actress. She has also starred in box-office successes such as Ghost, and Sister Act and also voiced memorable characters in Disney’s The Lion King and Pixar’s Toy Story 3. Goldberg is the first African American woman to receive all four Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Awards.
Queen Latifah was the first rapper to perform at the 1998 Super Bowl. She comes in fourth, earning $70 million. From starring in the iconic sitcom Living Single to hosting her own talk show from 1999-2001 she was one of only five R&B/Hip Hop artists nominated for Best Supporting Actress. Her being cast as Mama Morton in Chicago catapulted her into mainstream success.
Debuting on the R&B scene in 2001 with her album Songs in A Minor, this singer-songwriter and philanthropist, Alicia Keys, has made Time Magazine’s list of 100 Most Influential People twice along with being listed on Rolling Stone’s list of 200 best singers of all time. She added actress with a nomination for outstanding supporting actress for her role in The Secret Life of Bees to her list of accomplishments to rank Number 3 on the list at $75 million.
Coming in second with a net worth of $90 million is the iconic Halle Berry. Having made her mark with a small but memorable role in 1991 in Spike Lee’s movie Jungle Fever and her first co-starring role in Strictly Business in the same year. She blazed her trail in the 2000s as one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood. She also made history as the first woman of color to win an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Monster’s Ball in 1999.
A spokesperson for ThatSister commented on the findings: “Black women have historically been paid less than any of their co-workers, suffering from a racial pay gap as well as a gender pay gap. “Seeing women like Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg, women whose careers started in the 1980s, alongside modern artists like Halle Berry or Alicia Keys, serves to inspire young women of color across the globe.”
And last but not least, we have media mogul Oprah Winfrey taking the top spot at $3.5 billion. She is known for her history-making talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show. She solidified her role as the most influential black person and most powerful person in the entertainment industry in the past. She also became the first black woman billionaire in the world in 2003. She also debuted her first role as Sophia in the Color Purple with EGOT Whoopi Goldberg. She has truly earned the top spot.
Rounding out this list are actresses Kerry Washington and Jada Pinkett Smith in sixth and seventh place, both with a net worth of $50 million and also tied with a net worth of $40 million are Marvel star Zoe Saldana and Gabrielle Union at eighth and ninth place. And last on tenth on the list is the legendary and history-making actress-singer Lena Horne with $30 million.
Source: Best African American women of all time (Ranker.com) and Celebrity Net Worth
Methodology: The first 100 women from the Ranker.com list were entered into Celebrity Net Worth. The results were then analyzed and compiled to create a top ten.
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