Jennifer Lawrence has been named the highest-paid actress for the second year running.
The 26-year-old actress has managed to retain her title on financial bible Forbes’ annual list after cashing in a whopping $46 million in pre-tax earnings in the financial period June 2015-June 2016.
However, the Silver Linings Playbook star has seen an 11.5% fall in earnings compared to last year’s $52 million, but she’s still managed to stay top of the payroll leaderboard.
The blonde beauty – whose earnings this year come largely from both the last instalment of the Hunger Games series and a mammoth upfront payment for forthcoming movie Passengers– earned $13 million more than Melissa McCarthy, who ranked second place of Forbes’ annual list with pretax earnings of $33 million.
The 45-year-old actress’ income is nothing to be sniffed at, though, as she’s managed to pull up her pay packet by $10 million since last year, a feat which is thanks to a reported eight-figure sum from Ghostbusters.
Scarlett Johansson, 31, came in at third place with a total of $25 million, thanks in part to her involvement in both The Jungle Book and Captain America: Civil War.
Finishing off the top five were Jennifer Aniston on $21 million, and Fan Bingbing, the only Chinese actress to make the ranking who earned $17 million.
Whilst the actresses who made the list can boast large earnings, the pay gap with male actors still exists, and a reported 90% of the top-paid actresses supplement their on-screen earnings with endorsements.
Aniston’s number four ranking was largely supplemented by advertising campaigns with Emirates Airlines, Smartwater, and Aveeno.
Second-placed Melissa also supplemented her on-screen earnings through her plus size clothing line.
She said: “I started to think if I could do anything to build women up rather than the constant tear down I’m going to do it.”
Only four actresses pocketed more than $20 million – up from three in 2015 – compared to 18 of the world’s top male actors.
Forbes magazine’s 2016 list of highest-earning actresses:
- Jennifer Lawrence, $46 million
- Melissa McCarthy, $33 million
- Scarlett Johansson, $25 million
- Jennifer Aniston, $21 million
- Fan Bingbing, $17 million
- Charlize Theron, $16.5 million
- Amy Adams, $13.5 million
- Julia Roberts, $12 million
- Mila Kunis, $11 million
- Deepika Padukone, $10 million
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