Posted on 03/02/2025 8:07:07 AM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
More current…
You forgot to add Zelensky to the list....
Where did Forbes get the data to compile this list? Did the actors fill out a questionnaire? Did they access the tax returns? Or, did they pull it out of their derriers, which I suspect from Forbes.
Jerry Seinfeld is great. Funny. Successful. Rich. But he’s “getting paid” primarily for work he did in the 90s. He’s one of “Today’s Highest Paid Actors” in the same way that Vincent Van Gogh is one of “Today’s Best Artists”.
I think he spells it with 2 Ys
Zelenskyy
Joaquin Phoenix. Emm. No.
I spell it with one
There are at least 4 on this list that I NEVER ever heard of in my entire life.
Who the heck is Kevin Hart, Mariska Hargitay, Channing Tatum and Jason Statham? I googled those names and still never heard of them. I guess I’m getting old.
I looked more into it, and it seems as though quite a few on the list have also made a lot in the way of Producing or at least getting credited for it. I know Brad Pitt does a lot of that, not sure about Seinfeld.
Maybe they calculated it that way. But actors should be paid for acting and producers should be paid for producing. Mixing categories kind of muddies the water. I know that Harrison Ford used to work as a carpenter back in the 70s. I guess he should be on a list of “Today’s Highest Paid Carpenters”.
* Kevin Hart - Short, black comedian
* Mariska Hargitay - Pretty, 60 year old daughter of Jayne Mansfield & Hungarian bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay; star of NBC’s Law & Order-SVU since 1999.
* Channing Tatum - Former male stripper now movie actor
* Jason Statham - English native, star of several Hollywood action movies.
Agreed.
Interesting list. Whether it’s accurate or not, I don’t know, but what surprises me a bit is that all the actors on the list are of mature years, middle aged or older.
The movie bidness has always been youth oriented and it doesn’t run on a seniority system. Yes, these actors all established personal benchmarks and, for purposes of opening a negotiation for their next project, a personal rate card back in the days before streaming began a relentless commoditization of talent. I would imagine that they all are now in a position to take it or leave it; they won’t go hungry if they take a hard pass on something and tell the studio to shove its garbage script where the sun don’t shine. That’s assuming they’ve had a reasonable level of competent financial advice and that their demons haven’t burned through everything as fast as they earned it.
It will be interesting to see if this is the last generation of “movie stars” who can command big paychecks. As the streamers turn into content mills with endless remakes, sequels, and mindless cookie cutter stuff designed for a generic global audience of couch potato viewers, they might as well go full AI and dispense with live actors entirely. I would expect Disney to lead this since its roots are in animated cartoons to begin with and its bread and butter today is flying spandex and fantasy action characters.
It’s also interesting that at least some of the big names still make time to do smaller films. Some of them seem to actually want to do serious acting, as opposed to endless cash grabs. And some of the writers and directors still want to do quality work; most films will not achieve the status of great art that makes the GOAT lists and they know it, but they at least still want to try. They start where they’ve always started, in small indie films. It’s just not clear that the big studios, all in on streaming, care enough to recruit in that pond any longer.
The question is what kind of ecosystem will still exist for the next generation. None of the rising young actors, some of whom are very good, are on this list. The way the system now works, they won’t be on this list until they do some big spandex movies and spend their time flying around in wire harnesses in front of greenscreens.
I’ve become a fan of Jason Statham. I like revenge movies, and Jason brings it. A couple of my favorites are Redemption and The Beekeeper.
“Producer” and “executive producer” are big fudge factor categories. The producers basically assemble the team and drum up the money. Those are essential functions and people who do it well earn their money. But “producer” can also be essentially an honorific to make an actor look like more of a player than they are.
It is also sometimes handed out as a cheap gesture to help get someone to agree to do a film. “Babe, our budget is X and we simply can’t afford to pay what you are asking, but we’ll give you the producer credit.” What would be much more important would be getting a percentage share of the backend, but that’s getting hammered by the streamers.
He’ been on tour and making loads of money. Same with Kevin Hart.
Jason Stratham makes action pictures. The kind where he shoots and kills dozens of bad guys and beats up their henchmen with brute force and martial arts moves that defy reality.
That said, several of them are pretty good. Beekeeper is probably his best, IMHO
The other 3 I’ve heard of but have no definitive memories of their work, so no far ahead of you there.
Kind of surprise J. K. Simmons isn’t on the list. He seems to be in lots and lots of things and is good in all of them.
A number of people on that list are finding Hollywood is closing their doors to them because of their Politics now, they have become toxic to the business.
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