The Salaries of Movie Actors

Highest Paid Movie Actors

Forbes compiled a list of the highest paid movie actors between June 2009 and June 2010, and Johnny Depp came out on top with a total salary of $75 million for the period. Ben Stiller was second at $53 million and Tom Hanks third at $45 million. No female actors made the top 10 Forbes list. Despite a long career, Depp only began to command a salary at this level with the success of the first "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie in 2003.

In 2007 and 2008, Forbes released lists of the actors who provided the highest return on investment for studios. Forbes calculated the total cost of the actor's salaries over his last three films and compared it to the gross worldwide box office and DVD revenue of those films. In 2007, Matt Damon was the savvy choice of studios, bringing in $29 for every dollar he cost them. In 2008, Vince Vaughn's $14.73 topped the list. The key, according to Forbes, was Vaughn's low salary combined with the box office success of films such as "Wedding Crashers."

In 2007 Forbes discovered that comedies were less successful in foreign markets than were action films. As a result, comedic actors who were paid high salaries to appear in successful comedy films earned a comparatively low return on investment on that list than their action star counterparts. While still generating high revenue, Adam Sandler's return on investment was only $9 for every dollar he was paid, and Will Ferrell and Jim Carrey's return was $8.

The Russell Crowe film "A Good Year" earned revenues of $40 million, but against a budget of $35 million could not be termed a success. Almost one-third of the $35 million budget was paid to Russell Crowe. High budget films with high salaries can make less revenue than low-budget films that do well at the box office. The comedy "The 40-Year Old Virgin," for example, cost only $26 million to make.

For those actors who aren't yet big stars, the Screen Actors Guild sets out minimum wages for performers in theatrical productions. As of June 2010, the relevant SAG contract mandated a salary of $809 per day for performers. Those hired weekly must be paid a minimum of $2,808 per week. Background actors and stand-ins can make between $139 and $154 per day.