Avengers star, Robert Downey Jr has been named the world’s highest paid actor for the third year in a row.
In their annual list of the wealthiest actors working in the industry, Forbes reported that Downey had amassed around $80 million over the past 12 months, beating the likes of fellow Hollywood behemoths, Tom Cruise, Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel.
Downey’s impressive earnings are largely in thanks to the lucrative profit-share deal he holds with Marvel studios. After it’s mammoth success at the box office, Downey got a substantial share of the $1.39 billion raked in by Avengers: Age of Ultron. The actor, who plays Tony Stark (Iron Man) in the franchise, is also expected to receive around $40 million for his next film, Captain America: Civil War.
Ranking behind Downey, was Hollywood’s most popular martial arts star, Jackie Chan, who has earned $50 million in the past year. Vin Diesel came in third, with a total of $47 million to his name. Diesel’s success is largely due to the box office success of the latest film to come from The Fast and Furious franchise.Rounding up the top five, Bradley Cooper came in fourth, earning $41.5 million, while Adam Sandler came in fifth with $41 million.
Tom Cruise followed in sixth position with a total of $40 million. Surprisingly, numbers 7-9 are all occupied by Bollywood stars; Amitabh Bachchan ($33.5m), Salman Khan ($33.5m) and Akshay Kumar ($32.5m). Mark Wahlberg completes the top ten with his earnings of $32 million.
Dwayne Johnson, Johnny Depp, Leonardo Di Caprio, Channing Tatum, Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Craig also featured on the list.
