Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson overtook reigning top-ranked Robert Downey Jr. to become the world’s highest-paid actor, amassing his biggest ever annual paycheck in the process.
Johnson’s $64.5 million payday more than doubled his 2015 earnings, making him this year’s biggest dollar gainer.
The former wrestler’s mega millions came from upfront fees for movies such as Central Intelligence and Fast 8, as well as the forthcoming Baywatchin which he’s set to play Mitch Buchannon.
“I can kick ass better than anyone on the planet,” Johnson told FORBES in 2012. “And I have a decent smile.”
Second place goes to Jackie Chan at $61 million, who is making big money with hit movies in China, and Matt Damon, who tallied $55 million largely off the success of The Martian to boost his earnings 120% year over year.
Rounding out the top five is perennial list member Tom Cruise (No. 4, $53 million) and Johnny Depp (No. 5, $48 million), who pocketed an estimated eight figures upfront apiece for the latest Pirates of the Caribbean installment and box office bomb Alice Through the Looking Glass–but his earnings look set to drop next year.
Harrison Ford, the only returnee to the ranking, sneaks on with an outsized payday for his return as Han Solo in 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens. He most recently made the list in 2009.
Aside Jackie Chan, a quarter of this global list hail from outside the U.S, four Bollywood stars returned to the ranking for the second year in a row. Shah Rukh Khan ($33 million), the top-ranked Indian actor, earned as much as Robert Downey Jr. , while Akshay Kumar ($31.5 million) earned the same as Brad Pitt in our scoring period.
