Action star Vin Diesel has been named by Forbes as the top-grossing actor of 2017, beating out the superheroes and sci-fi stars so bring in a mind-boggling $1.6 billion (£1.2 billion) in global ticketing receipts.

Advertisement

The actor has been raking in the money for years as the face of the Fast and the Furious franchise, with this year's commercially successful eighth instalment – Fate of the Furious – hitting cinemas in April 2017. He's also recently starred in xXx: The Return of Xander Cage.

But hot on his heels comes his pal and co-star Dwayne Johnson (AKA The Rock), in second place with $1.5 billion.

This year's top ten features only three female actors. Wonder Woman Gal Gadot comes in third place, bringing in $1.4 billion – despite a row over the gender pay gap in the summer when it emerged she was earning a base salary of just $300,000 for the superhero movie. Beauty and the Beast's Emma Watson follows close behind with $1.3 billion.

gal gadot wonder woman

There is also good news for the new generation of British Star Wars actors: Daisy Ridley is at number six with $1.08 billion, while John Boyega raked in $845 million.

Forbes calculates the top-grossing actors by adding together the global ticket sales of each year's movies, excluding animated titles where we only hear the stars' voices and only including top-billed actors (so bit-parts and cameos don't really count).

Last year's top-grossing actor was Scarlett Johansson, who had a great year as Black Widow in Captain America: Civil War, followed by her co-stars Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. All three seem to be taking a break from this year's list.

The full list of this year's top ten:

Advertisement

1. Vin Diesel ($1.6 billion)
2. Dwayne Johnson ($1.5 billion)
3. Gal Gadot ($1.4 billion)
4. Emma Watson ($1.3 billion)
5. Johnny Depp ($1.1 billion)
6. Daisy Ridley ($1.08 billion)
7. Tom Holland ($888 million)
8. Chris Pratt ($864 million)
9. Chris Hemsworth ($845 million)
10. John Boyega ($815 million)

Authors

Eleanor Bley GriffithsDrama Editor, RadioTimes.com
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement