Cameron Diaz went from $1 million pay to $40 million pulling off one of most 'legendary' Hollywood deals

Cameron Diaz is arguably one of Hollywood's favourite actors of all time, from her debut role in The Mask to her iconic appearances in the Charlie's Angels franchise - it's clear that Diaz is no stranger to an A-list film.

However, the star was able to pull off a hefty pay rise for what is now heralded as one of the best deals in Hollywood.

Diaz, 50, managed to bump up her salary to an increase of nearly 4,000 percent - now that's some good haggling.

Many actors in the biz have scored some killer deals over the years and The Holiday star is of no exception.

Diaz was enlisted to portray the character of Elizabeth Halsey in the hit 2011 rom-com, Bad Teacher.

Directed by Jake Kasdan, the film's plot follows Elizabeth's journey of becoming a high school substitute teacher in a hopes to raise some money with the intention of getting breast implants.

Joining Diaz was Jason Segel who played the hilarious gym teacher, Russel Gettis, alongside none other than Justin Timberlake who took on the role of love-interest, Scott Delacorte.

Columbia Pictures

However, when Diaz's character catches wind of a big bonus awarded to the best teacher in the school - she cranks up the teaching to a whole new level as she strives to get her students the highest marks possible.

It seems that life really does imitate art considering just how much money Diaz took home from a very big bonus in real life.

For her involvement in the movie, the actor was paid just $1 million (£820,300) yet her contract allowed her to receive a whole load of extra financial perks following the flick's success.

Diaz had negotiated for a portion of the box-office earnings in her contract deal - bear in mind that the film ended up going on to rake in a world box-office of over $215 million (£176.4m).

Columbia Pictures

That's a pretty impressive number considering that the rom-com's production budget was just a mere $19 million (£15m).

This led the actor to take home a staggering $40 million (£33m) for the movie which has since been dubbed one of the most 'legendary' deals in Hollywood history.

Putting it into numbers - that's a humungous pay increase of 3,900 percent.

While this back-end deal could have been a massive gamble for the A-lister, it's clear that her creative negotiation definitely paid off.

So, there you have it - just a little bit of patience, luck and a whole lot of star-power and you've got yourself one of Hollywood's most famed movie deals of all time.

Not too shabby at all.