Priyanka Chopra is far from a newcomer. The Indian actress is an international superstar with a 22-year career that includes more than 15 Bollywood productions, the hit ABC series Quantico, three chart-topping singles, a New York Times best-selling memoir, a production company, a first-look TV deal with Prime Video, and several Hollywood film roles, including performances in The Matrix Resurrections, Baywatch, and the upcoming rom-com Love Again. Even with all that cred behind her, however, Chopra never received equal pay during her career — that is, until she landed the role of Nadia on Citadel, an action thriller series created by David Weil and executive produced by the Russo brothers.
The actress shared during a panel at the SXSW Film Festival in March that the Prime Video series was the first time that she received pay parity, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Chopra tells Shondaland that the moment she was offered the same pay as her Citadel co-star, Richard Madden (Game of Thrones, Eternals), she was “moved” after having “given up” on pay equality.
“I was kind of very surprised, honestly,” Chopra explains during a recent interview. “Because, you know, I had given up thinking about it or talking about it. Because the disparity between what my male co-actors would get and what I would get — even if I was a co-lead — was just so different and so vast that that was not something that I even thought would happen in my lifetime. That’s a really tragic thing to kind of think about. But when my agents at UTA suggested that they wanted to go back in and negotiate on my behalf, and see if that was a possibility, and then it happened, I wondered if it was the fact that the head of Amazon Studios [Jennifer Salke] was a woman.”
![los angeles, california april 25 l r priyanka chopra jonas and richard madden attend los angeles red carpet and fan screening for prime video's "citadel" on april 25, 2023 in los angeles, california photo by jon kopaloffwireimage](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/gettyimages-1485281081-1-64498a28e880e.jpg?resize=980:* "Los Angeles Red Carpet And Fan Screening For Prime Video's "Citadel" - Arrivals")
She continues, “When women are in positions of power, do they turn around and help other women and create opportunities for other women? I think the answer was yes. So, I felt very moved. I felt very — like I’ve broken the glass ceiling or pushed the glass ceiling a little bit for myself, and hopefully for other actors. I have to say that I have enjoyed parity since in most of the jobs that I have done after Citadel, including Love Again.”
That sense of female empowerment is not only reflected in Chopra’s salary but also in her performance as Nadia, a kickass female agent at an international spy agency. In the series, Nadia must overcome memory loss and years of inactivity to once again become one of the world’s greatest spies. She isn’t intimidated by the men she encounters and has a broad set of skills that make her the most formidable person in the room. Chopra tells Shondaland that her performance was, in some ways, informed by her own background as a powerful woman in the world. The actress was previously named one of Forbes’ 100 most powerful women and one of Time’s 100 most influential people in the world. In 2022, she made the BBC 100 Women list.
“I think somehow, subconsciously, [my background] probably did [influence Nadia],” she says. “Nadia is much stronger, tougher than I am. Obviously, she does things that I could never do. But I think the one thing that we both have in common is that when the s--t hits the fan, we won’t run. I think that’s also a very female trait, honestly. We kind of, you know, handle things, and we’re goal-oriented and solution-oriented. So, I think that may have informed Nadia a little bit.”
Creator Weil sings Chopra’s praises when asked about her performance in the show, revealing that she performed all the “physicality” in the fight scenes viewers see on-screen. “Oh, my God, I mean, it’s all on-screen, right? [Chopra is] so prepared; she’s so committed, [and] she pushes her limits as an actor,” he says. “All the physicality you see on-screen is her; she’s just such a powerhouse. And what’s so exhilarating, I think, writing for an actor like Priyanka, is that she can play any facet of emotion. She can run the gamut from seduction one moment to all-out violence the next. So, it was just such an opportunity.”
Chopra’s Nadia is not only a female agent but also a woman of color — an intersectional identity that can be challenging to navigate. The actress points out that her character’s identity is different from what viewers typically see when they watch action thrillers or projects within the spy genre. She is “proud” to bring that identity to life on Citadel, which has plans to expand with several spin-offs set in India, Spain, Mexico, and other diverse countries around the globe.
“I do think it’s very exciting to have a female character that gets to have so much agency in a show and a genre that has been dominated by men,” Chopra says. “Like, whenever you think about spies, it’s usually a guy, and it’s usually a white guy. But it’s really cool to be able to play a character in the spy universe as someone who’s extremely equipped. I felt very proud to be able to do that, to flip the table.”
The first two episodes of Citadel premiere on Prime Video on Friday, April 28, with new episodes released weekly every Friday through May 26.
Mariel Turner is the Senior Culture Editor at Shondaland. Follow her on Twitter at @mariel_turner.
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