Dwayne Johnson's The Highest-Paid Actor
The Rock is still standing tall at the top of Hollywood.
Two decades ago, if you had told people that a former wrestler would become the king of Hollywood, you would have been laughed at. But, that is the very real reality that we live in today. After 20 years of working in L.A. as an actor, semi-retired WWE star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is sitting pretty as the highest-paid actor in the world for another year.
Forbes recently released its list of celebrity earners from 2019, and despite being placed at number 15, Johnson is still the highest-paid actor in the world. While Taylor Swift stands at the top of the list, she primarily makes her money as a musician (her gig with the controversial Cats movie isn’t enough to place her in the actors category). In addition, the next actor to make the list is Chris Hemsworth at #24 with $76.4M.
But just how much did Dwayne Johnson make so far in 2019 to place at number 15? $89.4M. That’s right, the highest wage an actor has received on this Earth in 2019 $89.4M. Most of that money has come from popular movies in franchises like Jumanji and The Fast & the Furious; specifically Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Hobbs and Shaw. But the actor also gets paid a portion of the backend as well.
Then on top of that, Johnson does tv work too. He is currently starring in the HBO show Ballers, and he hosted the NBC’s Titan Games. Dwayne Johnson works hard for all that money he makes.
Related: Will “Shazam” Massively Shift Dwayne Johnson’s Career?
The Full Picture
Again, we're only halfway through the year. The numbers will definitely change over time. Johnson still has to be paid for the backend profits of the above-mentioned projects and a few others. In addition, he's already announced for six upcoming films including Black Adam, The King, Red Notice, and more.
Last year, Johnson was also named the highest-paid actor in the World. That time, he earned $124 million. Forbes also noted that Dwayne set the record for the largest pay to an actor since they started keeping records of these numbers 20 years ago.
Johnson, being the social media juggernaut that he is, made sure to thank his fans and the industry for helping him get to where he is today.
Others On The List
But who else is named? Again, the very next actor to make the list was Chris Hemsworth. After him came Robert Downey, Jr. at number 31 ($66M), then Bollywood star Akshay Kumar places shortly behind at number 33 ($65M), then Jackie Chan made it at number 39 with $58M, then another Hollywood star made the cut at number 43 thanks to the $57M made by Bradley Cooper, and surprisingly Adam Sandler tied the A Star Is Born lead with the same amount. Thanks, Netflix.
Next, Scarlett Johansson followed up the four-way tie between Sandler, Cooper, BTS, and Pink, as the Black Widow star has made $56M so far this year (and is currently filming her solo MCU film). Lastly, Chris Evans and Paul Rudd came up behind their Marvel ally with spots in #73 ($43.5M) and #83 ($41M) respectively.
The Top Celebrity Earners of 2019
But the list wasn't just made out of actors. Names like Kylie Jenner, J.K. Rowling, Lionel Mesi, Gordon Ramsay, Tiger Woods, and more.
If you want to check out the rest of the list and see which musicians, athletes, personalities, authors, and more made the top 100, you can check out Forbes’ post here.
