The 15 Highest Paid Movie Roles of All Time

Being an actor/actress is one of the highest paying occupations of all time. The more money they bring in to the box office, the more they get paid for a movie role. Let's take a look at the top 15 highest paid movie roles of all time, and no surprise here, the list includes some of the most famous actors and actresses on the planet!

15. Arnold Schwarzenegger as The Terminator in "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines"

$29 million

14. Jim Carrey as Carl Allen in "Yes Man"

$30 million

13. Tom Hanks as Captain John Miller in "Saving Private Ryan"

$40 million

12. Cameron Diaz as Elizabeth Halsey in "Bad Teacher"

$42 million

While she was only paid $1 million for the movie itself, she received a portion of the movie's earnings which catapulted her above $40 million.

11. Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man in "The Avengers"

$50 million

Yep, you read that right! And this was just his reported salary from the first Avengers movie.

10. Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb in "Inception"

$50 million

9. Jack Nicholson as The Joker in "Batman"

$50 million

Although he got paid $6 million up-front for the film itself, his major earnings came from box office sales and retail merchandise sales.

8. Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow in "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides"

$55 million

The fourth installment of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise was one of the most expensive movies ever made, with a production cost of over $410 million, largely due to the casts' salaries. Depp himself has been paid upwards of $300 million for all movies in the franchise.

7. Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump in "Forrest Gump"

$60 million

As one of the most famous movies of all time, Hanks make the right move opting for the performance-based pay at the box office!

6. Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"

$65 million

Getting Ford back for the fourth installment of the franchise cost Paramount a pretty penny!

5. Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter in "Alice in Wonderland"

$68 million (50 million pounds)

4. Sandra Bullock as Dr. Ryan Stone in "Gravity"

$70 million

These big bucks were mostly due to her deal of receiving 15% of box office sales, but she was also paid $20 million up-front, which is HUGE!

3. Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt in "Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol"

$75 million

2. Will Smith as Agent J in "Men in Black 3"

$100 million

1. Keanu Reeves as Neo in "The Matrix" trilogy

$250 million (combined)

Did any of these surprise you? Let us know!