Top 8 Highest paid actors of 2022

By Lauren Chalouhi, Editor-in-chief, The Pawprint

As we all know, the entertainment industry makes a lot of money from their tv shows and movies. Here is the top 10 list of the highest paying actors in 2022.

1. Tom Cruise ($100 million)
   Tom Cruise is the highest-paid actor in the world. He was paid $100 million for his role in Top Gun: Maverick. For the “Top Gun” sequel, Cruise received a base salary of $13 million. When a movie does great at the box office, like “Maverick” did, he receives first-dollar gross, which means he gets a percentage of the gross box-office revenue, starting from the first day of release, he receives a part of the profits before the studio does. This is how he gets the majority of his income.
2. Will Smith ($35 million)
   Will Smith is most known from the TV show, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”. The show was a hit, and with that opportunity, he started his acting career. In his most recent film “King Richard,” he made $40 million dollars. He also has a new movie called ‘Emancipation,’ which will be coming to Apple TV+ on the 9th of December. It is a historical film/thriller.
3. Leonardo DiCaprio ($30 million)
   The Oscar-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio has starred in films such as ‘Titanic,’ ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ and many more. His upcoming film, ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ will also be scoring him a check.
4. Brad Pitt ($30 million)
   The Oscar winning actor has been in many famous films like, ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’, ‘The Lost City,’ and his most recent film, ‘Bullet Train.’ All doing well in theaters and streaming websites. He has two upcoming films Babylon coming out this year and Indiana Jones 5 coming next year in 2023.
5. Dwayne Johnson ($22.5 million)
   Dwayne Johnson, also known as ‘The Rock,’ was first known for his career in WWE. He then moved into acting and starred in many movies like, ‘Baywatch’, ‘Central Intelligence,’ and one of his most known movies, ‘Fast & Furious.’ which has 11 sequels and a new one coming out in 2023, called ‘Fast X.’ It was reported by Forbes that Dwayne Johnson got $23.5 million alone for his starring part in the Netflix film “Red Notice.”
6. Ryan Reynolds ($20 million)
   Ryan Reynolds is a great actor who is loved by many, he is best known for playing the Marvel Comics character Deadpool. He has won many awards like the MTV Movie & TV Award for Best Fight, Deadpool. MTV Movie & TV Award for Best Comedic Performance, Free Guy and Deadpool, and a People’s Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actor. He got paid $20 million for his role as a co-star in the film “Red Notice.” Netflix also gave him $20 million from starring in the movie “Six Underground.”
7. Chris Hemsworth ($20 million)
   Chris Hemworth is a great actor most known from his role, Thor. He stars in eight marvel films. Four of his own, with the latest one being Thor: Love and Thunder, which got 64% rotten tomatoes. He earned $150,000 for his first appearance as Thor, and over time his pay increased per movie to an average of US$17 million.
8. Vin Diesel ($20 million)
   Vin Diesel is a great actor amongst all the others. He is most known for starring in the movie “Fast & Furious.” With $54 million in revenues from “Fast & Furious Spy Races,” and all the other sequels, with another coming out next year.