LOS ANGELES, Aug. 25 (UPI) — For the first time in his career, Dwayne Johnson has been named the world’s highest-paid actor.
The list, composed by Forbes, lists Johnson at No. 1 from June 2015 to June 2016 for earning $64.5 million.
The large amount comes from Johnson’s starring roles in hit films such as “Furious 7,” “San Andreas,” HBO series “Ballers,” “Central Intelligence” and upfront payments for upcoming flicks “Fast 8” and “Baywatch.”
Johnson beats out last year’s three time winner Robert Downey Jr. who came with $33 million which places him all the way down in ninth place. Last year, Johnson ranked in eleventh place having earned $31 million.
“Want to say two things about this,” the former WWE star wrote on Twitter Thursday regarding the news. “I started w/$7 bucks. If I can overcome, so can you. Waffle House on me!!”
Jackie Chan came in second place earning $61 million for a collection of international hits with Matt Damon ($55 million), Tom Cruise ($53 million) and Johnny Depp ($48 million) rounding out the top five. Notably Harrison Ford is the only actor to return to the list after making it in 2009 having earned $15 million for his role as Han Solo in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
Recently, Forbes released their list of highest paid actresses with Jennifer Lawrence coming in at No. 1 with $46 million, close to $20 million less then Johnson. Within an overall list combining both actors and actresses, the “Hunger Games” star places sixth place alongside Ben Affleck in seventh with $43 million.
According to Variety, combined, the Top 10 actors earned $457 million which is more then double what the Top 10 actresses had earned.
Notably, Lawrence famously wrote about the gender pay gap in Hollywood in a headline-grabbing essay back in October of 2015.
