These were the highest paid actors and actresses of 2015

If you want to make money, you need to spend money. It’s an old adage that has proven itself time and time again, and most times, it double-applies to Hollywood. Sure, spending tens of millions of dollars on a film production and feeding your crew is one thing.

But it’s star power that in most cases, draws audiences to your flick. Getting an actor on board to star in and promote a movie, can work massively in the favour of a studio. Hell, most of the time, Adam Sandler is a bankable star, with his films usually guaranteeing a solid return.

What a horrible world we live in. But moving on from that, here’s a look at the top 18 highest paid actors and actresses of 2015  as revealed on CBS This Morning:

1. Robert Downey Jr.: $80 million
2. Jackie Chan: $50 million
3. Vin Diesel: $47 million
4. Bradley Cooper: $41.5 million
5. Adam Sandler: $41 million
6. Tom Cruise: $40 million
7. Amitabh Bachchan: $33.5 million
8. Salman Khan: $33.5 million
9. Akshay Kumar: $32.5 million
10. Mark Wahlberg: $32 million

1. Jennifer Lawrence: $52 million
2. Scarlett Johansson: $35 million
3. Melissa McCarthy: $23 million
4. Bingbing Fan: $21 million
5. Jennifer Aniston: $16,5 million
6. Julia Roberts: $16 million
7. Angelina Jolie: $15 million
8. Reese Witherspoon: $15 million
9. Anne Hathaway: $12 million
10. Kristen Stewart: $12 million
11. Cameron Diaz: $11 million
12. Gwyneth Paltrow: $9 million
13. Meryl Streep: $8 million
14. Amanda Seyfried: $8 million
15. Sandra Bullock: $8 million
16. Emma Stone: $6,5 million
17. Mila Kunis: $6,5 million
18. Natalie Portman: $6 million

That works out to $711.5 million in total. Enough to outfit the firepit pool at the Nkandla not-a-compound with a deep end for really big fires. There’s a few surprise names on those lists. Bingbing Fan for instance, who happens to have coined it overseas and with solid endorsement deals. If you’re wondering who she is, she’s that mutant with the mother of all manicures from X-Men 2 with the sneaky portals X-Men: Days of Future Past [Editor’s note: Darryn doesn’t know mutants].

Jackie Chan as usual, has managed to be a lucrative star who knows how to work his celebrity into sponsorship deals. It’s an interesting list, and a fascinating look at just how much Hollywood royalty is paid. And it’s amazing to see the rise of Asian actors, beating Hollywood heavyweights such as Leonardo Dicaprio and Johnny Depp.

Last Updated: August 21, 2015