George Clooney is the highest-paid actor in the world, despite not making a movie since 2016

By Sam Barsanti | August 23, 2018 | 5:04pm

Aux Features Film

Forbes’ annual rankings of the highest-paid actors and actresses are always at least somewhat controversial, if only because a lot of these people do not deserve this much money, but last year’s lists were particularly noteworthy for the fact that 14 actors (including top-earner Mark Wahlberg) made more money than the highest-paid actress (Emma Stone). That gap isn’t quite as pronounced this year, with only six men making more money than the highest-paid woman, but the gap between the highest-paid man and the highest-paid woman is absurd—for more than one reason.

But first, let’s talk lettuce: Scarlett Johansson was the highest paid actress of the past year, pulling in $40.5 million thanks to Infinity War. Actually, the core Avengers cast took up a bunch of spots on both lists, though the only one of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes on the list that Johansson beat was Chris Evans (which makes sense, since she had maybe six lines in the movie and he only had, like, three). Angelina Jolie came in second, mostly because of upfront pay for Maleficent 2, and Jennifer Aniston held on to her top-five position because she still makes a crap-load of money from Friends.