Sandra Bullock is the highest paid actress

LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 05: Actress Sandra Bullock receives the Troops Choice Award onstage during Spike TV's 4th Annual 'Guys Choice Awards' held at Sony Studios on June 5, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. 'Guys Choice' premieres June 20, 2010 at 10PM ET/PT on Spike. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Forbes just released their list of the highest paid actresses for the last year (from June, 2009 to June, 2010) and 46 year-old Oscar winner Sandra Bullock is at the top by a wide margin. Bullock earned $56 million, and much of that is due to an agreement she made for a percentage of the profits for The Blind Side in exchange for a lower salary. Bullock’s earnings were also buoyed by the success of The Proposal. Tied for second on the list is Reese Witherspoon, who earned $32 million for her upcoming films How Do You Know and Water for Elephants along with her gig as an Avon “brand ambassador.” Cameron Diaz also brought in $32 million for her take of the Shrek franchise along with Knight & Day. Jennifer Aniston is surprisingly fourth with $27 million despite the mediocre success of her films last year. (Don’t yell at me for that, I’m just paraphrasing the source.) And in fifth place is Sarah Jessica Parker, who took home $25 million for her perfume line and her part in driving a once-enjoyable franchise into the ground.

Where is Angelina Jolie, you ask? Well she’s tied with Julia Roberts for fifth and sixth place with $20 million. That’s pretty damn successful no matter how you look at it. (And many will look at it while chanting in a sing-song voice “Jen beat Angie. nya nya nya nya nya”). Here’s more from Forbes:

INDIO, CA - APRIL 25: Actress Reese Witherspoon seen during Brooks & Dunn performance during day 2 of Stagecoach: California's Country Music Festival 2010 held at The Empire Polo Club on April 25, 2010 in Indio, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Sandra Bullock–$56 million
With two hit movies (The Proposal and The Blind Side) and an Oscar win, Bullock should have been sitting on top of the world. She is financially. With $56 million she’s the highest-earning actress. But a messy breakup with cheating husband Jesse James turned her into tabloid fodder. Bullock overcame adversity with news of an adoption and a return to public life at the MTV Movie Awards.

Reese Witherspoon–$32 million
Witherspoon’s face hasn’t been seen on the big screen since Christmas 2008, when she starred with Vince Vaughn in Four Christmases. She’ll return this holiday season with a new James Brooks comedy titled How Do You Know? co-starring Jack Nicholson, Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson.

Cameron Diaz–$32 million
Thanks to her work in the Shrek films Diaz has a nice, steady income, but she also gets big bucks to appear in romantic films like the action comedy Knight & Day, co-starring Tom Cruise. Diaz also stars with ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake as a foul-mouthed educator in the film Bad Teacher.

Jennifer Aniston–$27 million
Box-office stinkers like Love Happens and The Bounty Hunter can’t stop America’s sweetheart. Aniston still gets tons of press attention and decent-sized upfront paydays for romantic comedies like Just Go With It, co-starring Adam Sandler. Aniston also earns from Friends re-runs and a lucrative deal with Glaceau Smartwater.

Sarah Jessica Parker–$25 million
Between the TV series and movie franchise, Sex and the City will keep Parker in Manolos for years to come. The actress also has a successful line of perfumes that brought in $24 million the U.S. in 2009. Parker is now helping to design clothes for fashion label Halston.

Julia Roberts–$20 million
Roberts is no longer the draw she was in the days of movies like Erin Brockovich and Runaway Bride. Instead she is focusing on more personal movies like Eat Pray Love, based on the bestseller by Elizabeth Gilbert. Roberts will star opposite Tom Hanks for the second time in Larry Crowne, about a man reinventing himself.

Angelina Jolie–$20 million
The mom of six is a constant tabloid presence with 38 magazine covers in the last 12 months. She also makes movies. Jolie lost some ground this year because she didn’t have a new movie in our time frame. But she continues to cement her bankability with big thrillers like Salt and The Tourist, co-starring Johnny Depp.

Drew Barrymore–$15 million
Barrymore made her directorial debut in 2009 with the film Whip It. Unfortunately it didn’t whip up much business at the box office, earning only $17 million globally. Still, Barrymore is working hard to build a career behind the camera. She was the executive producer on the successful film He’s Just Not That Into You.

Meryl Streep–$13 million
At 60 Streep is still big at the box office. She had two hits in 2009 with Julie & Julia and It’s Complicated, which earned a collective $350 million at the global box office. She also earned a record 16th Oscar nomination for her work as chef Julia Child. The actress has no firm plans for her next film.

Kristen Stewart–$12 million
The 20-year-old Stewart is recognizable to teens around the world as Bella, the human caught between a vampire and a werewolf in the Twilight series. The movies have so far earned $1.6 billion at the box office and made Stewart a star. She stretched her wings this year with the rock biopic The Runaways, playing Joan Jett.

[From Forbes]

I love that Sandy is first and that Reese is second. I know Reese bugs a lot of people but I admire what a hard working little go-getter she is. She kept her head up during a very public divorce where her husband acted like a passive aggressive douche and came out richer and more successful for it. Ditto for Sandra Bullock. In terms of the projects Reese was already paid for, I hope that Water for Elephants is half as good as the book.

It doesn’t make sense to me how Julia Roberts and Sarah Jessica Parker made so much bank, but that’s because I can take or leave the pair of them. Their contributions to the field of entertainment last year were too meager to warrant that much dough. As for the “Jennifer made more than Angie” stories that are bound to follow, the whole triangle makes more sense to me now. You have two of the top five highest paid actresses with a personal beef with each other over another very popular highly paid movie star. Of course the tabloids are still milking that for all it’s worth.

Cameron Diaz arrives at the French premiere of the film Night and Day in Bordeaux, France on July 23, 2010.   UPI/David Silpa Photo via Newscom

NEW YORK - JUNE 07: Actress Sarah Jessica Parker attends the 2010 CFDA Fashion Awards at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on June 7, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

CULVER CITY, CA - JUNE 10: Actress Julia Roberts speaks onstage during the 38th AFI Life Achievement Award honoring Mike Nichols held at Sony Pictures Studios on June 10, 2010 in Culver City, California. The AFI Life Achievement Award tribute to Mike Nichols will premiere on TV Land on Saturday, June 25 at 9PM ET/PST. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for AFI)

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 21: Jennifer Aniston attends photocall at the launch of her debut fragrance 'Lolavie' at Harrods on July 21, 2010 in London, England. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - JULY 28: Actress Angelina Jolie attends the 'Salt' press conference at the Shilla Hotel on July 28, 2010 in Seoul, South Korea. The film will open on XXXX in South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - JULY 28: Actress Angelina Jolie attends the 'Salt' South Korea premiere at the Time Square on July 28, 2010 in Seoul, South Korea. The film will open on July 29 in South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

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23 Responses to “Sandra Bullock is the highest paid actress”

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  1. Hautie says:

    I like all the ladies on this list… with the exception of the last one. And that is because I have not had any interest in seeing vampire movies. haha!

    I still would have thought Meryl Streep had made more money than that. I could have swore she was doing product endorsement deals.

  2. Katie says:

    Am the only person who thinks Reese is too old opposite Rob Pattinson for Water for Elephants? I mean, I believe she played his mother in Vanity Fair. When I read the book, I did not the impression that her character was a good 10 years older than his. Did I just miss that?

  3. meme says:

    @katie – nope, i think Reese is too old (and all wrong, can’t stand her) for Water for Elephants. and why two pics of Holie when Sandra is the #1 moneymaker? and why such a crap pic of Sandra?

  4. lucy2 says:

    Wow, way to go Sandra. Not surprised, her two films did REALLY well last year, especially the Blind Side.
    Glad Reese is still up there, I’ve always liked her.
    I think Cameron lucked out with Shrek, otherwise she’d probably never rank on these lists.
    I find it funny that the media only refers to Angelina as “mother of six”. Reese has 2 kids, SJP and Julia have 3, and Meryl has a couple also.

  5. Anti-icon says:

    This list always makes me weep—for how much these showpeople get paid in relation to the real women in the workforce. Here’s the good news: many of these actresses are working moms, which at least is progress for real women.

    I just can’t believe showpeople make so much money. And the really talented ones—the ones who act in indie films, like Laura Linney and Marisa Tomei, don’t make this kind of bank. European actors probably don’t earn these figures either.

    I watch films on Netflicts and not in the theatre, so I feel that I boycott these Hollywood films in my small way.

  6. Love – love = l♥ve her! 🙂

  7. bite me says:

    it only took La Jolie 1 film to make that 20 million

  8. meme says:

    @bite me – it only took 2 movies for Bullock to make $56 million so she’s still #1

  9. bite me says:

    dont care about sandy, only La Jolie, next year she will be back on top, since she received back-end for both salt and the tourist

  10. Jean says:

    Where’s Cate Blanchett?

  11. Eileen says:

    Katie: ITA- its been a while since I read WFE, but I had pictured a girl maybe 20 or so. I get so freaked about watching movies from books-they are never even remotely close to the books. I learned this early on reading all Stephen king books when I was a kid, then torturing myself through the movies. Ugh.

  12. Yas says:

    lol @ choice of photos, all unflattering for a reason?

  13. canadianchick says:

    Wow, if only more women made that kind of bank *cough, we bitches at celebitchy cough* I’m all for Sandy on top this year. Money doesn’t heal the pain, but as she said, therapy is expensive, as is being a single parent, so good for she and Louis-baby! Jesse James, go suck it!

  14. gretchen says:

    love the pic of reese, she’s a doll

  15. feather says:

    Top pic of Sandra Bullock looks like the lovechild of Janice Dickenson and MJ.

  16. Kim says:

    I don’t believe these figures JA has made $27 million for the last 3 years. How can she make the same amount for 2008, 2009 and 2010.Also how can AJ have $20 million if she didn’t have projects during their time period. Finally its a disgrace that Meryl is almost tied with Kristen in earnings IMO

  17. canadianchick says:

    Oh and I forgot to say I erroneously rented the Bounty Hunter this weekend. OMG my hubby and I agreed-it was the worst movie we’ve ever seen-Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler should’ve made 10 cents only for that (sorry to offend your bf Kaiser).

  18. JuiceinLA says:

    I’d like to see the male comparables. Whose in first these days- Will Smith? naw. Steve Carell? Can’t be Cruise anymore. It seems to me that the days of a movie star carrying a movie so that they actually “earn” that 20-80MM paycheck are fading.

    But I love that photo of sandra!!!!!!!!!!!!

  19. grazi says:

    JA actually gets more money than she deserves. She was basically lucky to be cast as Rachel, which any other actress could have done easily. After Friends, in all her movies I have seen, she basically plays Rachel (or herself??) over and over again, which really makes me question her acting skills.
    And these people make way too much money. Thats why I save my 11 bucks, and wait for movies in Netflix. Besides, the chairs in movie theaters are so uncomfortable!

  20. lucy2 says:

    Juice, I think last year it was Daniel Radcliffe, and Will Smith the year before. I’d expect the men’s list to come out soon.

  21. denise says:

    Whoa Jen makes more $ than Angie per movie? I guess that’s the only list she’ll ever top Angie on.

  22. Camille says:

    Yay to see my girls Reese and Meryl in the top 10. 🙂

  23. JDa says:

    I do think Angelina Jolie is a beautiful woman but every picture I see of her just makes her look unhealthy. The bangs are not the best idea, and given her age I actually think she looks older than Aniston. Maybe the hard partying ways of her youth, maybe her extremely thin frame, whatever it may be I can not see all the fawning over her looks these days.