Angela Bassett

A graduate of the Yale drama school, she's a first-class actress with a résumé that includes such great flicks as What's Love Got to Do with It, which got her an Oscar nomination in 1994. And she commands a none-too-shabby $6 million a flick. But think what her asking price might have been had she taken the role of Storm, the weather-changing mutant in Fox's X-Men in 2000. The role went to Halle Berry instead, and she collects a cool $10 million a pop these days.