Are They Worth It ?: The 10 Highest Paid Actors

We take a look at Hollywood’s’ top-paid actors, and if they’re worth it or not.

We take a look at Hollywood’s’ top-paid actors, and if they’re worth it or not.

Every year, the people at Forbes create a list of the highest paid people in a number of different areas, we generally don't pay attention to this – until they release the highest paid actor list.

Let's see who is on that list, and if they are actually worth the money they think they deserve to make.

10 - Liam Neeson - $32 Million

Does he deserve it? Yes.

Liam is not the most flashy guy; you don’t see him out with starlets or getting DUI’s, but he is creeping in the shadows of some major hits – Batman Begins, Dark Knight Rises, Taken, Taken 2 (again), The Grey, and the “Titans” franchise. Well deserved Mr. Neeson.

9 – Denzel Washington – $33 Million

Does he deserve it? Yes.

Denzel has been a beast when it comes to making movies that are engaging and heartfelt, while still bringing action and huge power to whichever part he plays. Man on Fire was out of this world, and 2 Guns is on the HefferBrew watch list this summer, which features another member in this top ten list, Mark Whalberg.

8 – Tom Cruise – $35 Million

Deserving of his riches? No.

It has been a long, long time since Tom Cruise has made me want to see one of his movies. The last thing I genuinely wanted to pay to see Tom Cruise in was Tropic Thunder and lately even the Mission Impossible movies seem flat and are showing their age, much like Tom.

7 – Adam Sandler – $37 Million

….Just no.

I’m convinced the real Adam died many years ago in a tragic Chris Farley remembrance celebration, and NBC couldn’t handle the loss so they created a not funny Adam android and filled it with David Spade one liners and clips from his old Opera Man skits.

6 – Leonardo DiCaprio – $39 Million

Deserve it? Yup. And More.

Granted, I never watched Gatsby – but it did do well at the Box Office. Ever since he appeared in The Departed, Leo has been making some great and often gritty movies. Teaming up with the Grandmaster Martin Scorsese later this year on “The Wolf of Wall Street” will undoubtedly add to his wallet and hopefully his trophy case.

5 – Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson – $46 Million

Don’t even ask.

He deserves every penny. Dwayne has been on a bit of a movie binge recently, doing up all the addictive roles he can handle, and starring with some seasoned winners along the way. Like a seasoned frat boy he is able to chug action roles straight from the tap – and we can only hope he signs on to the Terminator Reboot later this year. Oh.. he is also Hercules, so prepare yourself however you can for the barrage of awesome that is sure to be.

4 – Mark Wahlberg – $52 Million

That’s it?

When I read how close Dwayne Johnson was to Marky Mark in earnings I was a little shocked. Yes, Dwayne is a powerhouse right now and they even did Pain & Gain together, but Mark has been a hot commodity for so long in many aspects of entertainment I would have figured he made more. Entourage anyone?

Side Note: Look out for “2 Guns” later this summer, Wahlberg and Denzel Washington team up as opposing government agents set up by the CIA, Directed by Baltasar Kormákur who already worked with Wahlberg on “Contraband” last year – It seems like Bad Boys to me, so I’m in.

3 – Hugh Jackman – $55 Million

Anyone who can perform like this guy should be paid as so.

One second he is emaciated and dying, but singing his heart out, the next he is so yoked that Dwayne Johnson is hitting him up for workout tips. Few actors go through such amazing physical transformations in their careers, but Hugh does it yearly. Not only does he bring amazing physical dedication to a role, the guy is actually a talented actor and all around gifted performer. I even enjoyed him on the Oscars, and am looking forward to the next (probably redundant and beaten to death) Wolverine movie. Similar to Christian Bale as Batman, I just can’t picture anyone else rocking the Adamantium quick like Hugh Jackman.

2 – Channing Tatum – $60 Million

Does he deserve it? No idea. I do know none of that money came from me.

I get it, the guy has a cute face and did a stripper movie with Matthew McConaughey – so naturally every lady on Earth is throwing money at him. I did hear 21 Jump Street was funny, which is good for him too I guess.. I just can’t take him seriously and nothing Tatum has brought to the table makes me say “oh that looks awesome”

And finally, we get to the end of this waste of time

1 – Robert Downey Jr. – $75 Million

Two thoughts come to mind: First, he really kicked everyone on this list in the face. Second, well deserved.

We all know Robert has stumbled on a bump from time to time, but recently he has been absolutely rocking the Iron Man gig. He’s perfect as Tony Stark, just his cocky nature is hilarious on screen and he really carried the entire “Avengers” build up and the movie itself and I’m sure the movies to come. Imagine Ryan Reynolds as Iron Man, and suddenly you no longer want to see The Avengers now do you?

The other Avengers are OK as a standalone, but none of them have the star power to pull the astronomic box office numbers the Iron Man movies do, and surely could never be the face of Disney’s Marvel “phase” plans. Robert knows this, and he will continue to be paid insanely stupid amounts of money to more or less be himself for a few hours. With Iron Man 4 in the works, and the Avengers 2 coming after that – get ready for him to repeat this position next year.

and now this:

Last year the National Cancer Institute spent about $1.6 Billion on total cancer research, of that only about $125 Million went to the research of children’s cancers.

The Ten people on this list made ⅓ of the total Cancer research budget for the last fiscal year, for being court jesters.