The World's Highest-Paid Actors 2016: The Rock Leads

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson elbowed out reigning top-ranked Robert Downey Jr. to become the world’s highest-paid actor–and scored his biggest ever annual paycheck in the process.

Johnson’s $64.5 million payday more than doubled his 2015 earnings, making him this year’s biggest dollar gainer. The erstwhile wrestler’s millions and millions came from upfront fees for movies including Central Intelligence and Fast 8, as well as the forthcoming Baywatch in which he’s set to play Mitch Buchannon. A staple of the Fast and Furious franchise, the stellar box office performance of his recent films (including 2015’s hit San Andreas) have seen his quotes skyrocket.

“I can kick ass better than anyone on the planet,” Johnson told FORBES in 2012. “And I have a decent smile.”

He bested second-ranked Jackie Chan ($61 million), who mints money with movies in China, and Matt Damon, who tallied $55 million largely off the success of The Martian to boost his earnings 120% year over year.

“I think the world belongs to us,” said Chan, discussing his continent-spanning ambitions with FORBES. “America belongs to me. China belongs to you.”

Rounding out the top five is perennial list member Tom Cruise (No. 4, $53 million) and Johnny Depp (No. 5, $48 million), the latter of whom received a restraining order against him in May, after his wife, Amber Heard, alleged he physically and verbally abused her. The couple reached a $7 million divorce settlement in August; Heard donated the cash to charity. The damning accusations did not impact his earnings during our scoring period–he pocketed an estimated eight figures upfront apiece for the latest Pirates of the Caribbean installment and box office bomb Alice Through the Looking Glass–but his paychecks look set to plummet next year.

The only returnee to the ranking: Harrison Ford, who scrapes on with an outsized payday for his return as Han Solo in 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens. He most recently made the list in 2009.

A quarter of this global list hail from outside the U.S. Aside from Chan, four Bollywood stars returned to the ranking for the second year in a row. Shah Rukh Khan ($33 million), the top-ranked Indian actor, banked as much as Downey Jr. , while Akshay Kumar ($31.5 million) earned the same as Brad Pitt in our scoring period.

Almost universally, a gender pay gap persists. The world’s highest-paid actress, Jennifer Lawrence ($46 million), earned 71% of Johnson’s $64.5 million. That ratio is a little lower than the 79 cents a white woman is typically paid to every dollar a white man makes, but better than the pay disparity Hispanic or Black women typically face.

There are simply more big budget roles for men that pay the high fees and cut of profits needed to score multimillion take-homes. In fact, there are more roles for men, period: Male characters comprise an overwhelming 71% of all speaking roles in movies, according to a recent study. To wit, eighteen actors banked over $20 million in our scoring period, compared with just four actresses.

Combined, the world’s 20 highest-paid actors earned a whopping $703.5 million between June 1, 2015 and June 1, 2016, before management fees and taxes. That’s more than three times the $205 million tallied by the top 10 highest-paid actresses in the same time frame.

Men in movies can also have longer careers than the top-earning women: 95% of the highest-paid actors are over 40, compared with half of the actresses. The same study found that men fill nearly three quarters of all roles for characters over 40. In our rankings, all of the highest-paid actresses are under 50, while 45% of the actors are 50-plus. In fact, two of the actors on the list, Ford and Amitabh Bachchan, are even in their seventies.

Just missing the cut this year is 64-year-old Liam Neeson, whose earnings dropped below the $15 million barrier to entry. Seth Rogen, Chris Hemsworth and Channing Tatum were among the drop-offs, largely due to quieter years or movies that fell outside our scoring period.

While last year’s ranking evaluated 34 men, this year’s list scaled back to the top 20 to hone in on acting’s earning elite. Figures are based on data from Nielsen, BoxOffice Mojo and IMDB, as well as interviews with agents, managers and lawyers.

Full List of Top 20 Highest Paid Actors this Year:
1. Dwayne Johnson - $64.5million
2. Jackie Chan - $61million
3. Matt Damon - $55million
4. Tom Cruise - $51million
5. Johnny Depp - $48million
6. Ben Affleck - $43million
7. Vin Diesel -$ 35million
8. Shah Rukh Khan - $33million
8. Robert Downey Jr. - $33million
10. Akshay Kumar - $31.5million
10. Brad Pitt - $31.5million
12. Adam Sandler - $30million
12. Mark Wahlberg - $30million
14. Salman Khan - $28.5million
15. Leonardo Dicaprio - $27million
16. Chris Pratt - $26million
17. Will Smith - $20.5million
18. Amitabh Bachchan - $20million
19. Matthew McConaughey - $18million
20. Harrison Ford - $15million

Drop Offs:
Channing Tatum, Bradley Cooper, Jonah Hill, Liam Neeson, Chris Hemsworth, and Seth Rogen all failed to clear this year's $15million earnings cut off.

Amber Heard donates divorce settlement to charity

 

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Perhaps, divorce is not entirely a bad idea as Amber Heard has made good on her promise to give the millions she received from her divorce settlement with Johnny Depp to charity.

Heard distributed her $7 million settlement between two organizations -- Children's Hospital of Los Angeles and the ACLU, which will put its portion of the funds toward efforts to stop violence against women.

"As described in the restraining order and divorce settlement, money played no role for me personally and never has, except to the extent that I could donate it to charity and, in doing so, hopefully help those less able to defend themselves," Heard said in a statement via her publicist. "This is over and above any funds that I have given away in the past and will continue to give away in the future."

Heard and Depp came to the settlement on Tuesday, one day before they were scheduled to appear in court.

 

Heard had previously accused Depp of domestic abuse and got a restraining order against the actor in May.

Heard said she has been a volunteer for Children's Hospital of Los Angeles for over 10 years and seen "firsthand how more funding for staffing, better equipment and better medication can make the difference between life or death for a child."

"I know these organizations will put the funds to good use and look forward to continuing to support them in the future," she said. "Hopefully, this experience results in a positive change in the lives of people who need it the most."

Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, added: "We are incredibly grateful that Ms. Heard has so very generously shown her support for the important and necessary advocacy for victims of domestic violence."

Johnny Depp was the lead actor of 'Pirates of the Caribbean' 

LOVE doesn’t last long in Hollywood: Inside the messiest breakups in Hollywood

Nadia SalemmeNews Corp Australia Network

LOVE doesn’t last long in Hollywood with the majority of A-list couples ending in divorce.

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard are the latest celebrity couple making headlines for their acrimonious split, which is being played out in the courts — and media.

They are the latest in a long list of celebrity couples including Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise, Nigella Lawson and Charles Saatchi, Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries, and Sandra Bullock and Jesse James whose marriages have ended in messy (and dramatic) breakups played out in the public eye.

Amber Heard was granted a domestic violence restraining order against her ex, Johnny Depp. Picture: Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

BRAD PITT AND JENNIFER ANISTON

The Hollywood actors met in 1998 when they were set up on a dinner date and married in Malibu in July 2000. But by mid-2005, it was over.

The way they were. Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt were married for five years. Picture: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagicSource:Getty Images

“We would like to announce that after seven years together we have decided to formally separate. For those who follow these sorts of things, we would like to explain that our separation is not the result of any of the speculation reported by the tabloid media,” a joint statement from the couple said at the time.

It would later emerge Pitt had left Aniston for his Mr & Mrs Smith co-star, Angelina Jolie.

TOM CRUISE AND KATIE HOLMES

They were known as “TomKat” during their six-year marriage. Katie Holmes filed for fivorce from Tom Cruise in June, 2012, with Tom Cruise’s Scientology beliefs said to be the main cause of their breakup.

“I don’t want that moment in my life to define me, to be who I am,” Holmes told People magazine of the marriage, after their split.

In June this year, it was reported Cruise had not seen the former couple’s daughter Suri for “1000 days”, according to InTouch Weekly.

Ugly divorce. Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise, pictured at the Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol premiere in December, 2011, about six months before they parted ways. Picture: Getty ImagesSource:Supplied

KHLOE KARDASHIAN AND LAMAR ODOM

They were the “it” couple of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, who put a ring on it after being together for about a month spawned E! spin-off, Khloe & Lamar.

But it did not last. The couple split in 2013 after four years together.

The divorce was put on hold after Lamar almost died of a drug overdose in a Las Vegas brothel last year.

But Kardashian filed divorce papers for a second time in May. “I love Lamar with all of my heart and I want the best for him,” Kardashian said, according to the Daily Mail.

“But now I feel I’m back to it being the hardest thing to do.”

Still close. Khloe Kardashian filed for divorce from former NBA Player Lamar Odom on May 26 citing irreconcilable differences. Picture: Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

KIM KARDASHIAN AND KRIS HUMPHRIES

The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star and Atlanta Hawks basketballer were married for 72 days in 2011, after tying the knot in a two-part E! TV special. Their divorce took longer than their marriage and wasn’t finalised until June, 2013.

By that time, Kardashian had already moved on to rapper Kanye West and was pregnant with his baby while attending court hearings related to the divorce.

Ironically, Kim’s sister Khloe — who was married to Lamar at the time — helped her through the split.

“She’s being really strong. Lamar and I are here to be her support,” Khloe told Sunrise in November 2011.

Kris Humphries and Kim Kardashian, pictured in August 17, 2011. Picture: Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

NIGELLA LAWSON AND CHARLES SAATCHI

Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson and businessman Charles Saatchi were married for 10 years before their bitter split was played out very publicly in 2013.

They divorced after damning photos of Saatchi holding his hands around Lawson’s neck were published.

The former couple’s assistants Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo were later accused of fraud and accused Lawson of drug use (the Grillo sisters were later acquitted).

“I have to be honest, to have not only your private life but distortions of your private life put on display is mortifying,” Lawson said of the ordeal, according to Good Morning America.

Public abuse. British celebrity chef Nigella Lawson and art collector Charles Saatchi in happier times. Picture: Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

PAUL MCCARTNEY AND HEATHER MILLS

She was branded a gold-digger and “devoid of reality” during a messy public split from the former Beatle.

Heather Mills and Paul McCartney had been married for four years, and had one daughter, Bea, together before going their separate ways in 2006.

During a lengthy court battle, Mills accused McCartney of being emotionally and physically abusive. She ended up with a settlement worth more than $48 million.

Icy separation. Paul McCartney and then-wife Heather Mills. Picture: APSource:Supplied

PAMELA ANDERSON AND KID ROCK

It wasn’t a long marriage for the busty blonde former Playboy model and the Devil Without a Cause rocker who tied the knot in July, 2006, before splitting in November 2006.

Anderson’s cameo in the movie Borat and a miscarriage were said to have been factors in ending the short-lived marriage.

Anderson went on to marry poker player Rick Saloman — aka the co-star of Paris Hilton’s sex tape — twice after she split from Rock.

They were all over each other. Pamela Anderson and Kid Rock at the American Music Awards in 2002. Picture: News Corp AustraliaSource:News Corp Australia

DENISE RICHARDS AND CHARLIE SHEEN

The bitter demise of Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen’s marriage is considered one of the ugliest celebrity splits in Hollywood.

Abusive voicemails left by Sheen telling Richards to “rot in f ... ing hell” were made public, as Sheen called the Wild Things actor “a sad, jobless pig who is sad and talentless and sad and jobless and evil and a bad mom” after their parted ways.

Richards accused the sitcom star of porn and gambling addiction, as well as years of abuse.

Before it turned sour. Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen, pictured together in 2003. Picture: Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

ALEC BALDWIN AND KIM BASINGER

They were a glamour couple of Hollywood in the 90s after falling in love on the set of the ironically-titled movie, The Marrying Man.

After 13 years together, the couple split in 2001, sparking a nasty custody battle over their only child, daughter Ireland.

Basinger said she is now “cool” with her former husband, telling The Edit that “life goes on”.

Kim Basinger pictured with then-husband Alec Baldwin. Picture: APSource:AP

SANDRA BULLOCK AND JESSE JAMES

Oscar-winner Sandra Bullock married biker Jesse James in 2005. By 2010, it was over after it was revealed James had cheated on Bullock with multiple women during their five-year union.

“I’m the guy that ruined my marriage because I banged some stripper,” James said, according to Us Weekly.

“There’s got to be some flaw in my personality that made me think that was okay,”

All smiles. Jesse James and Sandra Bullock at the Golden Globes in 2009. Picture: APSource:AP