Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson Earns the Most For Acting — But Doesn’t Top Forbes’ List of Highest-Paid Actors

The top actor owes his spot to tequila

Dwayne Johnson
Getty Images

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson took home the most money of any actor for acting in the period between June 1, 2017 and June 1, 2018, earning $124 million total pretax.

However, Johnson didn’t top Forbes‘ highest-paid actors for 2018. George Clooney has that honor.

Clooney had pretax earnings of $239 million, though he owes the majority of that to the success of Casamigos Tequila, of which he is a co-founder.

Founded in 2013 by the actor and two other partners, the company was purchased in June 2017 by British liquor company Diageo for $700 million, with the potential for an additional $300 million in earnings spread out over the next decade. Clooney took home $233 million from the sale.

Despite being second, Forbes called Johnson “Hollywood’s most bankable star,” thanks to his large social media following and his lead roles in “Skyscraper” and “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.”

Following behind Clooney and Johnson on the list is Robert Downey Jr., who made $81 million from his projects, which included the mega-blockbuster “Avengers: Infinity War” as well as his appearance in “Spider-Man: Homecoming.” His fellow Avenger Chris Hemsworth clocked in at number four, with $64.5 million.

The only returning member of the list is Will Smith, who took in $42 million — just behind Jackie Chan’s $45.5 million —  which landed him the number six spot on the list. Part of Smith’s earnings come from his role as Genie in the upcoming live-action “Aladdin.”

Forbes noted that the total amount accrued by the top ten highest-paid actors, $748.5 million, overshadowed the collective earnings of the top ten highest-paid actresses, which was $186 million. The top three actresses from that list were Scarlett Johansson, Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston.

Comments