Robert Downey Jr. Is Highest Paid Actor In The World; 'Iron Man' Actor Tops Forbes' List For The Third Time!
Robert Downey, Jr. is the world's highest paid actor for the third year in a row!
For the third consecutive year, the "Iron Man" actor topped Forbes' list of actors who rake in the most dough with a whopping $80 million haul. According to Us Weekly, he bested Jackie Chan, who was at second place, by more than $30 million.
The 50-year-old star owes his stay at the top of Forbes' yearly list to his hit movie "Avengers: Age of Ultron", which apparently grossed $1.4 billion worldwide.
Downey has been a staple in Marvel film adaptations since 2008 when he first played hotshot gazillionaire Tony Stark in "Iron Man". This 2016, he will be reprising his superhero role in "Captain America: Civil War", which is currently in production. Other returning Marvel superheroes to join him in the movie are Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Paul Rudd (Ant Man) and Chris Evans (Captain America).
According to Forbes, China may be Chan's cinematic territory, but even the Chinese' movie taste helped propel "Avengers: Age of Ultron" to a $240 million gross in the country alone.
Forbes admitted that while they have always included foreign actors who star in U.S.-made films in their list, they have never looked into the paychecks of actors who work solely in international movie industries.
Robert Downey, Jr. may be the highest paid actor in Hollywood but Irishman Liam Neeson, British Daniel Craig and Australian Hugh Jackman have been part of the annual list, too. This year, five Bollywood actors have likewise joined the ranks, three of whom are in the top 10 - Amitabh Bachchan and Salman Khan are at 7th place with $33.5 million, just slightly ahead of Akshay Kumar who hauled in $32.5 million.
Vin Diesel's $47 million haul, mostly from "Furious 7", put him at third place while Bradley Cooper's $41.5 million stash and Adam Sandler's $41 million paycheck rounded up the top five, according to E! News.
Overall, Robert Downey, Jr. is just one of the 34 highest paid make celebrities who earned a combined $941 million before taxes and fees from June 1, 2014 to June 1, 2015, Forbes said. These actors hailed from seven countries. A separate list of highest-paid actresses will be released at a later date.