Smith stars in the summer blockbuster Hancock Will Smith was the highest-paid actor in Hollywood last year, according to US business magazine Forbes. The I Am Legend star earned $80m (£40m) - but Dodgeball star Vince Vaughn proved the best value for money, raking in $14.73 for every dollar he was paid. Cameron Diaz led the ladies' charge by topping the highest-grossing actress table with takings of $50m (£25m). The magazine pulled together lists of Hollywood's big earners for its special Entertainment All Stars issue. Smith, Johnny Depp and Eddie Murphy were the best paid Hollywood actors in the past year, according to the magazine. TOP FIVE ACTORS Will Smith - $80m (£40m) Johnny Depp - $72m (£36m) Eddie Murphy - $55m (£27.5m) Mike Myers - $55m (£27.5m) Leonardo DiCaprio - $45m (£22.5m) Smith, 39, made $80m (£40m) between 1 June 2007 and 1 June 2008, thanks to films like I Am Legend, Hancock and The Pursuit of Happyness, for which he was nominated for best actor in the 2007 Oscars. Pirates of the Caribbean star Depp, 45, earned $72m (£36m) in same period. But Smith only ranked 21st on the value-for-money list, with a gross income return of $5.64 for every dollar spent on the big-budget superstar. Vaughn, who also starred in the Wedding Crashers and The Break-Up, was best value for money, while Spider-Man star Tobey Maguire was in second place, with a gross income return of $13.44 for each dollar of his pay. Julia Roberts was in third place with a gross income return of $13.19. British star Keira Knightley was just behind Diaz in the actress top earners league, raking in $32m (£16m) thanks to her roles in the Pirates sequel At World's End and Atonement. TOP FIVE ACTRESSES Cameron Diaz - $50m (£25m) Keira Knightley - $32m (£16m) Jennifer Aniston - $27m (£13.5m) Reese Witherspoon - $25m (£12.5m) Gwyneth Paltrow - $25m (£12.5m) The 23-year-old Briton also earned money for being the face of Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle perfume. No other British women made the top 10, and no British actors made it onto the men's list. The 10 best-paid actors out-earned the 10 best-paid actresses by two to one over the year, the figures showed. The Harry Potter films led to a strong performance by younger Britons in the so-called "tweens" list. Star Daniel Radcliffe, 19, shared the top spot with 15-year-old Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus, with both taking home $25m (£12.5m) last year. His co-stars Emma Watson, 18, and Rupert Grint, 19, also made the top 10, earning $5.5m (£2.75m) and $5m (£2.5m) respectively. Elsewhere in the Forbes round-up, Harry Potter author JK Rowling earned more than anyone else on any of Forbes' lists, with a total of $300m (£150m). Her books about the boy wizard have sold 375 million copies worldwide and the final instalment, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, has sold 44 million since it came out last July, according to the magazine. Rowling even earned more than US talk show host Oprah Winfrey, who took home $275m (£137.5m) last year.



E-mail this to a friend Printable version Bookmark with: Delicious

Digg

reddit

Facebook

StumbleUpon What are these?