Forbes Announces Hollywood’s Best Paid Actors

Forbes has just released its list of Hollywood’s five highest-grossing paid actors for the year ending May 1, 2011. At the top list are fan favorites Leonardo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp, who earned $77 million and $50 million, respectively.

DiCaprio saw fantastic box office returns with two critical hits in 2010. The first was the psychological thriller Shutter Island, which garnered almost $295 million against a budget of $80 million. He then appeared in the sci-fi action thriller Inception, which earned almost $826 million against a budget of $160 million and was nominated for eight Academy Awards.

Depp, meanwhile, scored a hit with the computer animated comedy Rango.  The film earned critical acclaim and almost $243 million in box office return against a budget of $135 million. Of course, with the list only counting up to May 1, 2011, the gigantic box office take for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides wasn’t counted.

Coming in third place on the Forbes list was Adam Sandler, who earned $40 million. Last summer’s Grown Ups was the comedian’s highest-grossing film ever, ranking in over $271 million against an $80 million budget.

Will Smith ranked in fourth place by earning $36 million. He earned a large upfront paycheck for next year’s Men In Black 3, his first acting job since 2008’s Seven Pounds.

Coming in at a close fifth was Tom Hanks, who earned $35 million. The actor lent his voice to the highest-grossing animated film of all time, Toy Story 3, which earned over $1 billion at the box office. The fifth highest-grossing film of all time won Best Animated Feature this year at the 83rd Annual Academy Awards.

What do you think of the top 5 highest-grossing actors of the past year? Anyone here that you’re surprised to see or anyone that you’re surprised didn’t make the list.