Top 10 Highest Paid Male Actors Make 119% More Than Top 10 Female Actors

Jennifer Lawrence has been named as the highest paid female actor in the world in Forbes’ 2015 list. Lawrence made $52 million over the past year, pre-tax and fees. Whilst Lawrence’s grand fortune is certainly something to be marvelled at, the list and its counterpart for male actors show the extent of the gender pay gap in Hollywood.

Jennifer Lawrence has been named the world's highest paid female actor.

Lawrence’s earnings were $16 million more than Scarlett Johansson who came in second in the list and $32 million more than Melissa McCarthy in third place. 25-year-old Lawrence’s earnings are astronomical but considering her roles in such big-budget films as The Hunger Games and X-Men, it’s not surprising she has made it to the top spot.

However, she made $28 million less than the highest paid male actor, Robert Downey Jr. Furthermore, the top ten male actors on the list made a collective total of $431 million, $234 more than the top 10 highest paid female actors put together ($197 million).

To put that as a percentage, the top ten men in the film industry earn 119% more than the combined earnings of the top ten women (over twice as much).

The list also shows signs of Hollywood’s ageism with only two female actors on the list – Meryl Streep (66) and Sandra Bullock (51) – over the age of 50. This is compared to seven out of eighteen of the world’s most highly paid male actors.

There’s also evidence of inequality elsewhere in the world. The list of 18 female actresses largely comprises of Americans with one Chinese actress, Bingbing Fan, ranking in fourth place with $21 million. The male list is considerably more multi-national with, in addition to Jackie Chan at second place, four male Bollywood actors making it into the top 18.

Head over to Forbes to see the full lists.