Someone can be the biggest movie star in the world, but if that performer is a woman, she’ll still earn less than a man.
Today Forbes released its report on the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood, and for the second year in a row, “Hunger Games” star Jennifer Lawrence topped the list. Lawrence, who recently appeared in “X-Men: Apocalypse,” is set to rake in $46 million 2016. The runner-up was “Ghostbusters” star Melissa McCarthy ($33 million), followed by Scarlett Johansson ($25 million) and Jennifer Aniston ($21 million). Chinese actress Fan Bingbing ($17 million) rounded out the top five. Absent from the list are Sandra Bullock, Reese Witherspoon and Kristen Stewart, who made last year’s roundup.
Those numbers, while seemingly impressive, pale in comparison to what their male counterparts are taking home. Dwayne Johnson, the former WWE star who appears in the “Fast and Furious” franchise, will make 40 percent more than Lawrence this year. His $64.5 million earnings was featured on Forbes’ list from earlier this year of the highest-earning celebrities, which also included Jackie Chan ($61 million), Matt Damon ($55 million), Tom Cruise ($53 million) and Johnny Depp ($48 million).
To put it in further perspective, Lawrence barely makes more than Ben Affleck ($43 million), who spent the goodwill he earned on winning Best Picture for “Argo” to make misfires like “Runner Runner,” ‘To the Wonder” and “Batman v Superman.” Outside of the “Fast and Furious” movies, Vin Diesel has not starred in an unqualified hit in which he actually appears on-screen since “The Pacifier” in 2005. The 49-year-old actor still makes more than Melissa McCarthy, one of the most consistently bankable stars in Hollywood. Diesel’s $33 million earnings are twice what Oscar-winner Charlize Theron ($16.5 million) will take home in 2016.
These pay discrepancies improved very slightly from the previous year, when Robert Downey Jr. was the highest-paid actor. His pay ($80 million) was 53.8 percent higher than Lawrence’s 2015 salary. J-Law was in two films last year, “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 2” and “Joy,” while Downey was in just one, “The Avengers: Age of Ultron.” Despite the fact that “Mockingjay” earned $653 million worldwide, Lawrence got just $7.5 million of that cut.
While Downey earns big bucks from Marvel’s success, 90 percent of these women, as Forbes noted, had to supplement their incomes with endorsement deals to earn even a fraction of what their male co-stars make. Aniston is the face of companies like Smartwater, Aveeno and Living Proof, a no-frizz hair care product sold at Sephora. Johansson has been a spokesmodel for Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana, Calvin Klein and SodaStream. McCarthy even founded her own body-positive fashion line.
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