James Earl Jones was paid just $7,000 for his Darth Vader role

Star Wars actor James Earl Jones amassed a net worth of $40 million.

Transcript

00:00Voice actor James Earl Jones was widely recognized for his roles in The Lion King,

00:04Field of Dreams, and Star Wars, earning himself two Emmys, a Golden Globe, Grammy,

00:08and two Tony Awards. But the actor's success did not come overnight. Jones was paid just $7,000

00:13to voice Darth Vader, who was physically played by David Prowse, in the first Star Wars film in 1977.

00:19The role of Vader took one day to record for the first Star Wars film, but Jones was not

00:23credited in the franchise's first two movies. Instead, his name first appeared in 1983's

00:28Star Wars Return of the Jedi. By comparison, Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker,

00:33reportedly earned $650,000 for the first Star Wars film, and Harrison Ford reportedly made

00:39$10,000 for his role as Han Solo before his salary ballooned to $500,000 by the third film.

00:44Jones passed away at the age of 93, but his voice will still be remembered not only in popular

00:49culture, but through AI reproductions of his voice since the actor signed over his archive of voicework.