Latest News

The Rock Is The Highest Paid Actor In Hollywood

Forbes annual list of the top earning stars has also revealed the truth about the A-list gender pay gapĀ 
Getty

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has been named the highest paid actor in Hollywood by Forbes, with the superstar having taken home $US64.5 million in the last year.

The announcement means Robert Downey Jnr. has been knocked off the top spot, with the Iron Man star having taken out the title for the previous three years courtesy of all that superhero franchise cash. 

Fuelling The Rock’s pay cheque are his star turns in Central Intelligence, San Andreas, his ongoing role in the Fast and the Furious franchise, not to mention the upcoming Baywatch re-make and his TV series Ballers.

But his (seriously big) pay day is in stark contrast to that of Jennifer Lawrence, the highest paid actress in Hollywood, who earned $US46 million last year.

RELATED: Jennifer Lawrence Just Became The World’s Highest Paid Actress – Again!

Sure, that’s nothing to sniff at but the $20 million difference in salaries highlights the ongoing, and infuriating, gender pay gay that still exists in Tinseltown.

To wit, while number two on the male list Jackie Chan was paid $61 million last year, the number two highest paid Melissa McCarthy made roughly half of that (or to be precise $33 million). Basically, the top actors are out-earning their female counterparts by tens of millions. 

“There are simply more big-budget roles for men that pay the high fees and cut of profits needed to score multimillion take-homes,” Forbes writer Natalie Robehmed tells Vanity Fair. “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.”

Related stories