Have you ever wondered how much money successful actors actually bring home?
Entertainment is one of the most popular and highest money-generated industries in the world. Let’s look a look at the highest paid actors and how they got to where they are today.
The Highest Paid Actors
Landing an acting career isn’t easy, no matter how talented you are. A lot of the times, it’s about luck and being in the right place at the right time. However, these talented individuals didn’t let set-backs or a tough childhood affect their decision to pursue a career in acting. Here are the highest paid actors and we love them.
1. Adam Sandler
Net worth = $39.5 million
Amongst the highest paid actors unsurprisingly, is Adam Sandler. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Sandler demonstrated his comedic skills at 17 years old when he took the stage at a Boston comedy club. This was his first stage appearance and he, and the audience, loved every minute of it. He soon realized that comedy was his passion. As a result, he enrolled into New York University to graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1991. During his studies, he regularly performed in clubs and universities to refine his skills.
During his freshman year in college, he landed a role on the Cosby Show, in 1984. Many believe that this was his huge hit which helped his career to rise. Comedian Dennis Miller discovered Sandler and recommended him to producers at Saturday Night Live. After regularly performing on Saturday Night Live, Sandler starred in major movies. These included: Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison and Big Daddy. These early movies weren’t necessarily what pushed him into the spotlight. However, his work later on got him many positive reviews. Whilst performing, Sandler writes and produces a large number of his films, through his production company, Happy Madison Productions.
In 2015, Sandler featured in a comic drama film which was shown on Netflix. It was later reported by Netflix that this film has seen a large number of times in 30 days more than any other motion picture in Netflix’s history. A few of his other positive triumphs include: Hotel Transylvania, Grown Ups, Grown Ups 2, Pixels, Click and more. Each of these movies earned around $271 million. With no plans to stop, we’re excited to see what other movies and ventures Sandler will bring to our screens.
2. George Clooney
Net worth = $500 million
Another of the highest paid actors is George Clooney. Aside from his on-screen appearances, Clooney is also an extremely successful businessman with his tequila producing firm. Beginning his acting career in the ‘80s with small parts in sitcoms, Clooney has come a long way. His major acting break came through the role of Dr. Doug Ross in 1994, which lasted for five years. By the end of this successful TV series, Clooney pursued a career as a film star. His appearance in well-known movies led us to fall in love with Clooney and want to see him more and more. In 1997, he landed the role of Batman in Batman and Robin. Fast forward to 2001, and he landed a major role in Ocean’s Eleven. Thanks to its undeniable success, its two sequels were later released a few years later.
In 2005, he earned an Academy Award regarding his hard work and talent in Syriana. Nominated in the ‘Best Supporting Actor’ category, it wasn’t surprising to see him thrive as he’d become known as one of the most talented and popular actors at the time. With all of that money, he might wonder how he spends it. Well, being the caring person he is, he helped raise funds during the Haiti earthquake in 2010.
In 2013, Clooney pushed himself outside of the acting realm. He started exploring the entrepreneurial world with his very own tequila company, which he branded as Casamigos. He recently sold this company for up to $500 million. Without a doubt, his hard work and skills has paid off, and we know this isn’t the end of seeing Clooney on the big screen just yet. His biggest movies include: Gravity, 2-Ocean’s Eleven and more.
3. Dwayne Johnson
Net worth = $220 million
From June 2017 to June 2018, Dwayne Johnson brought him $124 million and was named one of Forbes’ top-grossing actors of 2017. Formally known as The Rock, a wrestling star, he’s now referred to as one of the highest paid actors. Standing at six feet, five inches tall and weighing 260 pounds, Johnson impressed everyone at the University of Miami’s college team with his physical size, physique and strength. His speed, work ethic, size and charisma helped him to branch into professional wrestling. During his WWE career, he won his first of many world championship awards. His work ethic helped him to appear in a few TV series. In 2001, he joined previous wrestlers to take a shot at acting in The Mummy Returns. Landing a starring role, Johnson broke out of the wrestling industry and into the acting world.
From this point, he continued working harder than ever, and still to this day, shows no signs of slowing down. His latest movie, Jumanji sequel is due out in December 2019. This is highly anticipated amongst Johnson fans. In addition, there are many other movie titles due out in recent future dates for this busy actor. His acting in Fast and Furious also helped me land him subsequent roles, as well as land a plethora of fans around the world. In 2014, he returned to his wrestling roots with an appearance with Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 30.
As well as his successful acting career, Johnson continues to dedicate his life to fitness. He’ll present videos and images of himself working out on his social media to motivate other fitness gurus to keep going. His dedication is admirable and one of the reasons he controls to push himself in all areas of his life.
4. Will Smith
Net worth = $300 million
Will Smith was nicknamed Prince Charming in high school, which he took on board for his role in Fresh Prince. Forming an alliance with a school friend, Smith began recording as a DJ and the French Prince released their first single. In 1986, he continued his career with an album, Rock the House. The group’s successful song bagged them a Grammy Award. His identity was characterized as ‘light rap’. His attention continued to grow as he earned Platinum-certified recordings. In 1990, the French Prince of Bel-Air aired onto television. Briefly based on Smith’s own personal life, this ran for six seasons. Thanks to its success, Smith earned two Golden Globe Award nominations.
In 2013, Smith starred alongside his son in After Earth. Based on an idea Smith thought on, this became hugely popular around the world and continued to show everyone what Smith is made of. Two years’ later, Smith played a role in Concussion, where he portrayed a con artist. In 2016, he landed an action thriller in Suicide Squad and a grieving father in Collateral Beauty. This is just a small percentage of the amount of projects Smith has taken on during his career. However, he continued his recording career and released an album in 2002, and another one in 2005. Although they weren’t as successful as his previous recordings, he didn’t let this get him down and continued to show his hard work and passion for the entertainment industry.
Towards the early 21 century, Smith produced several films, including some he appeared in, alongside his wide. He then went on to host a documentary and appear in other movies, but a Netflix-original. With a family of talented individuals, the Smith’s future looks bright and promising, and we can’t wait to witness it.
5. Mark Wahlberg
Net worth = $255 million
Mark Wahlberg is another of the highest paid actors. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, the American singer and actor gained fame as a Calvin Klein model before landing a successful film career. The youngest of nine children, his parents divorced when he was a child, and he dropped out of high school at 14 years old. Engaging in substance abuse, violence, stealing and drug dealing, he was convicted and sentenced to prison at 16 years old. After his release, Wahlberg’s oldest brother helped him begin a music career. Creating a band together, they debuted an album in 1991. Mark used his physique more than his voice to gain him admirers. Subsequently, he landed a career as an underwear model for Calvin Klein. Quickly rising to fame, he earned a ‘bad boy’ image. However, Wahlberg chose to say goodbye to his persona and worked hard to pursue an acting career.
His first movie role was a small part in Renaissance Man, in 1994. Three years’ later, he landed a leading role as a porn star in Boogie Nights. The former Calvin Klein model quickly become highly sought after. Consequently, he took on an array of roles in numerous genres, including comedy, action and drama. His performances in The Perfect Storm, Planet of the Apes and Italian Job earned him excellent recognition and respect.
Since entering the entertainment industry, Wahlberg has produced films and television shows. Also, he appeared in a reality TV series centered on his brother’s restaurant business. Working hard to regain respect for his former bad boy image, he plays an array of roles which make us both laugh and cry.
6. Tom Cruise
Net worth = $570 million
Born in Upstate New York, Tom Cruise experienced a tough childhood as his father walked out on his mother. Cruise and his three siblings did chores around the house to help out. Arguably one of the best actors to date, Cruise landed his first role in a movie called Endless Love, which lead to five years in this role. Subsequently, he bagged roles in teen-friendly movies. Cruise quickly become at the top of every director’s wish list. As he has a huge adrenaline fan, people loved signing him onto their production and movies as he enjoyed performing many of the stunts himself.
With such a high reputation, Cruise always wanted more than just an acting career. As a result, his pay was boosted to around $15 million a picture to make him one of the highest paid actors to date. Due to his exceptional work and reputation, he became one of the few Hollywood stars to ask for a share of profits and receive it. For example, he earned $20 million in Impossible 2, as well as 30 percent of profits. In total, he landed $75 million just from this movie alone. Cruise’s biggest franchise earned a total of $3 billion worldwide. Since then, he’s shown a lot of interest in producing other movies in the acting genre.
7. Jackie Chan
Net worth = $350 million
Jackie Chan is another of the highest paid actors. His career all started in 1962, when he debuted in a film as a child actor. After landing a popular following in China and Hong Kong, he finally landed success in Hollywood in the 1990’s. This was from appearing in the 1995 movie, Rumble in the Bronx. Also, he appeared in a huge commercial for a 1998 film, plus two sequels in 2001 and 2007. If we take a look at his entire career, Chan has appeared in over 150 movies and earned himself a huge following around the world. As well as acting, Chan also produced 20 different albums and earned money as a singer.
After Lee’s tragic death, Chan became the successor of his mantle in Hong Kong cinema. He starred in a series of Kung Fu movies. Surprisingly, many of these were unsuccessful until the late 1970’s. By this time, Chan chose to create his own image outside of Lee. He felt strongly about performing his own stunts. The actor took to the Hong Kong film industry and many movies proved his success. These include: Drunken Master, The Fearless Hyena, Half a Loaf of Kung Fu and more.
Soon after these releases, Chan became the highest paid actor in Hong Kong, as well as an international star throughout Asia. From producing and directing, to performing his own stunts and music, it seemed like there was nothing Chan couldn’t do.
8. Chris Hemsworth
Net worth = $64.5 million
Chris Hemsworth is an Australian actor known for portraying the Marvel Comics superhero, Thor. This blockbuster hit gave him international fame which helped him to land a role of Kim Hyde in the Australian series of Home and Away. From 2004, for three years, he perfectly portrayed this character. In addition, Hemsworth featured as a contestant on Australian’s version of Dancing with the Stars. His career continued to blossom as he later gave a voice over in the 12th installment of Star Trek Into Darkness, in 2013. If you look at his big break, it was definitely for the super hit film, Thor.
Immediately after college, Hemsworth began doing bits of TV roles. This included King Arthur in Guinevere Jones, appearing as Jamie Kane in Australian’s Neighbours. Also, he appeared as The New Vet in The Saddle Club, ad well as other famous shows. Fast forward to 2004, and he auditioned for the role of Robbie Hunter in Australian’s version of Home and Away. As stated above, he later returned to play a new role which led him to relocate to Sydney. Hemsworth ended up playing this role for three and a half years until 2007, and featured in 185 episodes. After this, he chose to concentrate on his film career instead.
Without a doubt, his most recognized role is Thor. Hemsworth earned an international claim for this role in which he gained 20 pounds of muscle to portray the character. In 2013, we saw him reprise the role of Thor in Thor: The Dark World. The future for Hemsworth looks bright and exciting. On May 3, 2019, North America will welcome the release of an untitled Avengers film featuring him of course.
Which of These Highest Paid Actors are Your Favourite?
We hope you enjoyed reading about the highest paid actors. Each of these individuals bless our screens by making us laugh, smile and cry. It’s fascinating to look into how they built their career from the ground up.
Which of these actors are your favourite? Let us know your thoughts and feedback in the comments to keep this conversation going.
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