Who Were The Best Paid Actors Of 2020?
Despite 2020 being a year of chaos and disruption for the film industry, lots of big-name actors still managed to take home significant earnings. According to Forbes’ annual list of top earners, many of the most popular actors still managed to make huge sums of money. Their estimated earnings are not just from acting, but also from side-ventures and businesses.
What’s noticeable about the 2020 list is that many of the actors on it earned hefty sums of money from Netflix and other streaming services. This just goes to show how much of a key player in the world of films/TV streaming is and how any actor shouldn’t take them for granted.
With that said, let’s have a look at the top-earning actors of 2020 and the mind-boggling amounts of money they’ve been lucky enough to earn.
1 – Dwayne Johnson ($87.5 million)
Top of the list is none other than Dwayne Johnson, who was also the best paid actor of 2019. He reportedly earned $87.5 million (around $1.7 million a week) and over a quarter of that is supposed to have come from his Netflix film Red Notice. Like many other actors, Dwayne has numerous other ventures, including a YouTube channel, a production company and a partnership with Under Armour, a manufacturer of fitness apparel. The former professional wrestler is also the fourth most followed on Instagram, with some 214 million followers keeping up with his posts.
2 – Ryan Reynolds ($71.5 million)
Coming in a very respectable second is Canadian-American actor Ryan Reynolds. He only had one film (The Croods: A New Age) come out in 2020 as several others were delayed because of the pandemic. Still, his pay for these to-be-released projects and his earnings from other work have made him exceptionally rich. As well as acting, Ryan is executive producer and commentator for the game show Don’t and is involved with brands including Aviation American Gin, Match Group and Mint Mobile.
3 – Mark Wahlberg ($58 million)
The actor with the third highest pay in 2020 is Mark Wahlberg. He earned many of his millions from the Netflix film Spenser Confidential, which went on to become the streaming platform’s third biggest original film. He was also generously paid for his talents as a producer on the shows Wahl Street and McMillions. One of his many business ventures is the casual dining and bar chain Wahlburgers, which the actor co-owns along with his brothers Paul and Donnie.
4 – Ben Affleck ($55 million)
Coming a very close fourth is Ben Affleck with earnings of $55 million. He had two films come out in 2020 – The Way Back and The Last Thing He Wanted – for which he was very well paid and has several more coming out in 2021, some of which he’s executive produced too.
5 – Vin Diesel ($54 million)
Vin Diesel reportedly took home an impressive $54 million in 2020 thanks largely to his work on the Fast & Furious franchise. Though the tenth instalment in the series, F9, has been pushed back to late May 2021, Vin has still been busy executive producing the Netflix animated show Fast & Furious Spy Racers, which is currently in its third series. He also starred in and produced the film Bloodshot.
6 – Akshay Kumar ($48.5 million)
Akshay is the only actor on Forbes’ list of highest-paid actors to be a Bollywood actor, and not a Hollywood one. He’s one of the most prolific actors working in the Hindi film industry and has earned more in 2020 than any year before. A project that earned the actor a significant portion of his pay is the Amazon Prime series The End, which, like many other series, is delayed until late 2021.
7 – Lin-Manuel Miranda ($45.5 million)
The actor and playwright made most of his money in 2020 from the ongoing success of his play Hamilton. Despite theatres closing, he still managed to earn thanks to Disney+ buying the rights to the Broadway play.
8 – Will Smith ($44.5 million)
The actor had two films come out in 2020 – Bad Boys for Life and Life in a Year – and topped up his earnings with various side-projects including the documentary Will Smith: Off the Deep End and a popular Snapchat series.
9 – Adam Sandler ($41 million)
Adam Sandler is one of many actors to reap the benefits of Netflix becoming as popular as it is. For the last few years, the actor’s been focusing on starring in films exclusively available on the platform, often writing and producing them too. His films have been big successes for the streaming platform, hence his large pay.
10 – Jackie Chan ($40 million)
Rounding off the list is Jackie Chan, who currently has over a half a dozen films in various states of production and post-production. Like many other actors, he tops up his income from films with various licensing deals and endorsements.