The Hollywood pay gap has been exposed 

The harsh truth of the Hollywood gender pay gap has been exposed by Forbes – with 14 Hollywood actors earning more than the highest paid actress.

According to estimates by business magazine Forbes, Mark Wahlberg tops the list of the highest paid actors of 2017, taking home $68m (£53m).

Topping the list of actresses is Oscar-winning La La Land star Emma Stone, whose salary hit $26m (£20m) – a whole $42m (£32) less than her male equivalent.

Key facts

  • The highest paid actress earns $42million less than the highest paid actor
  • 14 Hollywood actors earn more than the highest paid actress, who sits at number 15 on the top 20 list
  • Only three actresses feature in the top 20 highest paid Hollywood stars list
  • The collective salaries of the top 10 highest paid actors is nearly three times the amount of the collective salaries of the highest paid women

In a list of the top 30 paid actors and actresses in Hollywood, Emma only features in position 14, with just three women featuring in the top 20 list and nine in the top 30.

Hollywood pay gap reveals highest paid actor earned $42m more than highest paid actress
Emma Stone is the highest-paid actress in Hollywood – but she is still paid less than 14 of the highest-paid actors (Picture: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic)

Furthermore, the top 10 highest paid actors – including the likes of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Adam Sandler, Tom Cruise and Chris Hemsworth – earned $485.5m (£381m), which is nearly three times the collective amount the top 10 women – including Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Watson and Julia Roberts earned at $172.5m (£135m).

Top 20 highest paid Hollywood actors and actresses

1. Mark Wahlberg $68,000,000.00
2. Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson $65,000,000.00
3. Vin Diesel $54,500,000.00
4. Adam Sandler $50,500,000.00
5. Jackie Chan $49,000,000.00
6. Robert Downey, Jr $48,000,000.00
7, Tom Cruise $43,000,000.00
8. Shah Rukh Khan $38,000,000.00
9. Salman Khan $37,000,000.00
10. Akshay Kumar $35,500,000.00
11. Chris Hemsworth $31,500,000.00
12. Tom Hanks $31,000,000.00
13. Samuel L. Jackson $30,500,000.00
14. Ryan Gosling $29,000,000.00
15. Emma Stone$26,000,000.00
16. Jennifer Aniston $25,500,000.00
17. Jennifer Lawrence $24,000,000.00
18. Ryan Reynolds $21,500,000.00
19. Matt Damon $21,000,000.00
20. Jeremy Renner $19,000,000.00

The Forbes estimates are according to estimates of pre-tax profits in the 12-month period leading up to June.

The gap between the top 10 men and women has grown since last year’s analysis, which found showed the actors taking home more 2.3 times the amount rather than this year’s 2.8 times.

Highest paid Hollywood actresses

1. Emma Stone – $26m (£20m)
2. Jennifer Aniston – $25.5m (£19.8m)
3. Jennifer Lawrence  – $24m (£18.7m)
4. Melissa McCarthy – $18m (£14m)
5. Mila Kunis – $15.5m (£12m)
6=. Emma Watson – $14m (£10.9m)
6=. Charlize Theron – $14m (£10.9m)
8=. Cate Blanchett – $12m (£9.3m)
8=. Julia Roberts – $12m (£9.3m)
10. Amy Adams – $10.5m (£8.1m)

Highest paid Hollywood actors

1. Mark Wahlberg – $68m (£53m)
2. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson – $65m (£50.7m)
3. Vin Diesel – $54.5m (£42.5m)
4. Adam Sandler – $50.5m (£39.3m)
5. Jackie Chan – $49m (£38.2m)
6. Robert Downey Jr – $48m (£37.4m)
7. Tom Cruise – $43m (£33.5m)
8. Shah Rukh Khan – $38m (£29.6m)
9. Salman Khan – $37m (£28.8m)
10. Akshay Kumar – $35.5m (£27.6m)

Hollywood pay gap reveals highest paid actor earned $42m more than highest paid actress

Mark Wahlberg is the highest-paid actor in Hollywood (Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Stone, 28, recently spoke out about the gender pay gap, revealing she has achieved equal pay to her male co-stars after they volunteered to take pay cuts to be on level pegging.

She said: ‘That’s something that’s also not discussed, necessarily – that our getting equal pay is going to require people to selflessly say: “That’s what’s fair”.’

And Gender in equality prevails…even in Hollywood. Sigh.