Current Top Paid Actresses
Thursday, June 21, 2012 at 6:00PM Forbes ranks the working actresses in order of assumed income for the past year (May to May) and Queen Theron, who has been absent way too long, jumps back in the game with her recent burst of acting and activities. Forbes counted guesstimated residuals, endorsement deals and profit participations and such. The list goes like so. (Dollar figures are in millions)
01 Kristen Stewart $34.5 Twilight finales + Snow White
It'll be interesting to see if she can hold "a top earner" status post Twilight what with Jennifer Lawrence next in line for the absurd franchise riches.
02 Cameron Diaz $34 huge profit sharing on cheaply made Bad Teacher
03 Sandra Bullock $25 ...not sure how she scored this high with only Extremely Loud as a new element but... okay.
04 Angelina Jolie $20
05 Charlize Theron $18 -thanks in large part to Dior, surely
06 Julia Roberts $16
07 Sarah Jessica Parker $15 the latest movie flopped but the perfumes are totally selling
08 Meryl Streep $12
09 Kristen Wiig $12
10 Jennifer Aniston $11
I'm not greedy at all. Would totally settle for, oh, half of one week's worth of Aniston's income as my annual salary. Too pricey, huh? Okay, okay. I'll take three days worth as annual salary as long as joint custody of Justin Theroux is on the table. Who can arrange this? Please and thanks.
You know what would make a fun list? Yours. Rank your top ten if you ran the world. Which actresses would you gift with the most endorsements and the biggest incomes this past 12 months. Whose name and face and merchandise do you want to see plastered everywhere?
Reader Comments (28)
Kristen Stewart???? she is so lucky to have been in the Twilight series ... she simply has very little talent as an actress... and to be #1 ???? She WILL fade away!
Where's Jessica Chastain? One would think she's made herself a place on this list with so many movies, but I guess the paychecks are not that big yet (maybe that's why she takes so many roles? just kidding).
Gotta love a star system where you can earn $25 just by showing up on a flop, but it you're in The Hunger Games (Lawrence) or The Help (Stone, Davis), both big hits, you can miss this list.
Anyway, I just wanted to say I love Jimmy fallon (I know, no one cares). I've just seen videos of this week show with Joan Rivers (so funny), Michelle Pfeiffer playing beer pong, and Penélope Cruz talking Woody Allen. How can you top that in just one week?
IF I RAN THE WORLD:
1) Meryl - the woman deserves everything and needs to be everywhere!
2) Maggie Smith - She's such a treasure
3) Charlize Theron - My love for her is inexplicable, suffice to say it borders on dangerous obsession
4) Nicole Kidman -I know she's more of an auteur's pick, but she just needs to pick the right mainstream projects as well as her more inspired indie choices and she could be it.
5) Jennifer Lawrence - She shows more range in her little finger than Kristen shows throughout 4 twilight films (lip chewing aside)
6) Emma Stone - Merely for her appearance at the Oscars alone, god she was brilliant.
7) Judi Dench - Call me a dame lover, TBEMH has been the surprise hit of the year surely and with Bond - LOVE THEM while we still have them.
8) Pfeiffer - The woman deserves more and needs to work for more.
9) Tilda - Easily the most under the radar actress working. She isn't underrated, rather underappreciated and deserves so much more for what she does.
10) Keira Knightley - I may be one of the few shippers out there, but there's something about her that just makes me think, she's going to be big one day.
SHOUTOUT to Marion Cotillard - my love. If she chose more english speaking films, woman could be huge.
Whoopi Goldberg, Anne Hathaway and Amanda Seyfried all have the talent, they just need to pick the right projects (something more like "For Coloured Girls" for Whoopi, or Ghost, RACHEL'S GETTING MARRIED PART 2 please Anne, and I believe Amanda has the most unexplored talent of Hollywood but just picks the most atrocious projects. hoping Les Mis can get her some long awaited attention.
And yeah this could go on forever, is 14 cheating? :D
How are some of the ladies still relevant on this list?
Kristen yeah because of Twilight, but Cameron, Sandra, Angelina, Julia, Sarah, Jennifer? I feel like I'm flashing back to the early 00's or something. I thought some of them had faded.
But yay for Kristen Wiig! Let's hope her star doesn't fade anytime soon. <3
If it was up to me, we'd have quite a few colored actresses in there... Viola, Whoopi, Penelope. Others that my mind is neglecting right now because Hollywood neglects them all too much; three is definitely not enough.
Then Nicole, Charlize, Emma Stone, Meryl.
Less of the mediocre commercial actresses.
I'm sure Emma Stone and Anne Hathaway will be on the list next year, right?
I also found it weird that Sandra Bullock is on the list. Maybe they are including payment for "Gravity"??
If I Ran The World:
1--Tilda Swinton.
2--Emma Thompson.
3--Maggie Gyllenhaal.
4--Viola Davis.
5--Jessica Chastain.
6. Jennifer Lawrence.
7. Angelina Jolie.
8. Anne Hathaway.
9. Amanda Seyfried.
10. Helen Mirren.
I'm surprised that the annoying Olivia Wilde didn't make the cut. Boy, wasn't she on half of the movies released last year?!
This might look like I'm being intentionally obscure, but I truly believe that all of the following actresses are powerhouses of talent and should have the world at their feet, gazing up in AWE! I would give them all the roles, all the prizes and all the money!
1. Phyllis Logan
2. Judy Davis
3. Isabelle Huppert
4. Helen McCrory
5. Shirley Henderson
6. Allison Janney
7. Dianne Wiest
8. Patricia Clarkson
9. Celia Imrie
10. Amelia Bullmore
The residuals Aniston makes from Friends must be insane. I bet she makes like $100K per day.
Meryl Streep would be making bad made of TV movies and merely a Supporting Actress Oscar winner, If I Ruled The World.
Supporting Actress (1979) — Meryl Streep
Actress (1982)(1994) — Jessica Lange
Actress (1990)(1995); Supporting Actress (1998) — Kathy Bates
Actress (1987)(1993); Supporting Actress (1996) — Holly Hunter
Actress (1988) — Glenn Close
Actress (1991) — Susan Sarandon
Actress (1999)(2010) — Annette Bening
I would like these actresses to make stunning amounts of money because they got 2 different starring roles in a year (finally) which contrasted with each other, and in which they were great. Both of their movies were wildly popular and critical successes. Everyone thinks, ah, this is one of the best movie years ever.
1) Melanie Lynskey
2) Sarah Paulson
3) Emma Thompson
4) Viola Davis
5) Amy Smart
6) Amanda Bynes
7) Juliette Binoche
8) Emily Mortimer
9) Natascha McElhone
10) Idena Menzel
mmmmm... Justin Theroux on a table...
Everything Meryl is fine by me.
morganisiquat -- i want to live in this world you describe. even just to test it out. Arrange that for July will you?
on my list I think obvs Tilda Swinton (with a ton of cool endorsements that she advertises in abstract ways not in heavy rotation), La Pfeiff, Anne Hathaway, Viola Davis (just to have her around more), Charlize, Kirsten Dunst, Catherine Deneuve... mmmm, who else?
oh and how can i forget: VERA FARMIGA. I so wish she was a big star.
Regina King - that woman should be doing so much more than a series on TNT (despite how good it is)
Kate Winslet
Helena Bonham Carter
Kerry Washington
Ruth Wilson
Wow, great for Kristen Wiig! She deserves it. I mean really, the finest comic actress working today. She has a very legitimate claim to that title.
With the proclaimer that I haven't seen any of the Twilight movies, I'm o.k. with Kristen Stewart's ascendancy. Of all the under-25 actresses today, she's probably one of the most interesting. She has a certain quality about her, like Jodie Foster, that defies explanation. Again, granted, if I had sat through four--soon to be five--Twilight movies (as opposed to Panic Room, Into the Wild, Adventureland and The Runaways), my thinking may be different.
My top 10 wishlist (roughly off the top of my head, in alphabetical order):
Penelope Cruz (incredible charisma, an assortment of quality performances)
Viola Davis (If there were any justice in the world)
Jodie Foster (not sure what happened recently, but she's still a great one)
Taraji P. Henson (someone has to get on this, great talent, great personality)
Nicole Kidman (despite the facial mangling, still in love with her)
Charlotte Rampling (between the early work and recent character roles, a great actress who never got her chance)
Tilda Swinton (Three, maybe four, of the best performances of the last decade)
Carice van Houten (based on Black Book alone, this woman needs to be a Hollywood star)
Kerry Washington (desperately under-rated...just watch Scandal if you need proof)
Michelle Williams (Has the looks and the talent, but maybe not the charisma?)
Oh my gosh, I am so stupid. How do I forget Kirsten Dunst? She's my favorite actress too ahahha, slow moment.
Also, Michelle Williams. Forgot about her.
Aniston, still? God, wake me up when she's over.
Bullock definitely is on this list because of Gravity (and possibly, probably residuals, too).
I'm surprised Wiig is on there (this year, at least); did she get backend profit participation on Bridesmaids? If so, go her!
And Diaz, regardless of what you think about her/Bad Teacher, absolutely deserved her winfall. (She *sold* that film, sold it like Paris Hilton did her sex tape.)
Anyway, in a perfect world the following would be top tier: Allen, Basset, Cruz, Davis, Heche, Hendricks, Pfeiffer, Scott-Thomas, Shue, Stone, Swinton and Winger (tie).
...so there.
Based on May 2011 to May 2012...
1. Meryl Streep
2. Viola Davis
3. Jennifer Lawrence
4. Jessica Chastain
5. Charlize Theron
6. Kristen Wiig
7. Emma Stone
8. Tilda Swinton
9. Michelle Williams
10. Vera Farmiga
30% overlap, not too bad.
Michelle Williams, Meryl Streep, Charlize Theron, Marion Cotillard, Tilda Swinton, Kirsten Dunst (simply after her astonishing work in Melancholia. Didn't know she had it in her and am so excited to see what else she could pull off), Emma Stone, Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Elizabeth Olsen---not in any particular order, but to me they are some of the most exciting actresses working in Hollywood at the moment.
But I also agree that Vera Farmiga and Viola Davis are pretty awesome too and deserve to be working more!!
Amy Adams
Michelle Williams
Anne Hathaway
Elizabeth Banks
Viola Davis
Emma Stone
Jessica Chastain
Jennifer Lawrence
Natalie Portman
Kirsten Dunst
I'm quite heartened that people are mentioning viola davis so often. Listen up hollywood.
Wow, great picks, all! So glad to see Adri's list of actresses to include Melanie Lynskey and Emily Mortimer, and the delectable Juliette Binoche. And Mareko's that includes Angela Bassett and Kristin Scott-Thomas. And Viola and Tilda. And Viola and Tilda!
I would also include my newest obsession, Sidse Babett Knudsen, star of the brilliant Danish TV show, Borgen. She was fabulous in After the Wedding and other films. And she speaks English better than Marion Cotillard, so she could "cross over".