Forbes' highest-paid actors: Mark Wahlberg tops list, SRK, Akshay appear
Forbes has released its Highest-Paid Actors 2017 list. 'Transformers' star Mark Wahlberg ($68mn pretax) displaced 'Fast and Furious' actor Dwayne Johnson ($65mn) to top the list this time. 'Pirates' star Johnny Depp, who has been among the top-five for years, didn't make it to the top-20. From Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan ($38mn), Salman Khan ($37mn) and Akshay Kumar ($35.5mn) came 8th, 9th and 10th.
Following Johnson is 'Xander Cage' Vin Diesel ($54.5mn). Adam Sandler ($50.5mn) is 4th, thanks to a Netflix deal that lets him produce his own movies. 5th highest-paid actor Jackie Chan ($49mn) continues to rake in the big bucks in China. Once-upon-a-time highest earner Robert Downey Jr. ($48mn) came 6th with a little help from the Iron Man brand. Tom Cruise ($43mn) came in 7th.
Apart from the Bollywood stars, outsider Australian-born Chris Hemsworth ($31.5mn, 11th) joined the list with a 250% gain from last year. Four newcomers- Ryan Reynolds ($21.5mn, 15th), Ryan Gosling ($29mn, 14th), Jeremy Renner ($19mn, 17th) and Mark Ruffalo ($13mn, 20th)- have joined the list. Tom Hanks ($31mn, 12th) and Samuel L. Jackson (No. 13; $30.5 million) returned to the list.
The Forbes list displayed a startling gender pay gap: compared to Wahlberg's $68mn, highest-paid actress Emma Stone of 'La La Land' got $26mn. In fact, the top-ten men made $488.5mn, three times more than the $172.5mn that the top-ten ladies earned. According to Forbes, the disparity is largely due to the huge success of superhero movies and absence of female roles in them.
