George Clooney Is The Highest-Paid Actor - Thanks To Tequila

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Forbes released their list of the 10 highest paid actors of the year, with George Clooney taking the top spot in a rather ironic fashion. Mark Wahlberg topped the list in 2017 with $68 million, just edging out Dwayne Johnson's $65 million. This year, however, Wahlberg was nowhere to be found, at least in the top 10, while Johnson managed to nearly double is pre-tax income from last year.

Forbes has put out a list of the highest-earning celebrities, dubbed the Celebrity 100, since 1999, which breaks down how much each celebrity earned, and where it came from. These celebrities can run the gamut from actors to athletes, and this year the overall top earner was in fact an athlete, boxer Floyd Mayweather, who earned $275 million for his mega-fight with controversial UFC star Conor McGregor. The only two actors in the overall top 10 were Clooney (#2) and Johnson (#5), along with Kylie Jenner (#3), Judge Judy Sheindlin (#4), U2 (#6), Coldplay (#7), soccer star Lionel Messi (#8), Ed Sheeran (#9) and another soccer star, Cristiano Ronaldo (#10).

Related: Batman & Robin Had A Big Influence On George Clooney's Career

Clooney wasn't even on the top 10 last year, since he hasn't starred in a movie since 2016's Money Monster with Julia Roberts, but he earned a staggering $239 million in pre-tax earnings between June 1, 2017 and June 1, 2018, according to Forbes. The bulk of those earnings came from the sale of his Casamigos Tequila company to British liquor giant Diageo, for $700 million up front, with upwards of $300 million to be paid out over the next decade. Clooney has an equal stake in the company with its two co-founders, Rande Gerber and Mike Meldman, with Clooney pocketing $233 million from the sale, plus an additional $6 million from "endorsements and older movies."

Johnson came in a distant second with $124 million, which represents the "largest ever acting take-home from front-of-camera roles" in the Celebrity 100 history, while Clooney's take-home pay, albeit largely from non-acting income, is the largest ever for any actor. Rounding out the top 10 actors is Robert Downey Jr. ($81 million), Chris Hemsworth ($64.5 million), Jackie Chan ($45.5 million), Will Smith ($42 million), Bollywood star Akshay Kumar ($40.5 million), Adam Sandler ($39.5 million), another Bollywood star Salman Khan ($38.5 million) and Chris Evans ($34 million). Since Clooney is set to star in and direct the Catch-22 mini-series, and he also recently signed on to direct the sci-fi thriller Echo, he could very well return to the Forbes list next year.

The Forbes list is meant to evaluate "both onscreen and extracurricular earnings," but it's still rather odd that the highest-earning actor of 2018 hasn't starred in a movie in two years. Still, turning what was initially a $600,000 investment in Casamigos into a $233 million payday is beyond impressive, as is Johnson's record-breaking tally as well, which is aided by his massive social media following. If it wasn't for Clooney's tequila windfall, The Rock would have taken the top spot for two out of the past three years, having taken the highest-earning actor spot in 2016, before falling to second place last year behind Wahlberg. With an impressive slate for 2019 and beyond, including Jungle Cruise with Emily Blunt, Johnson will likely be a mainstay on this list for years to come - and so might Clooney if he invests wisely enough in another liquor company.

More: Secrets Behind Amal and George Clooney's Marriage

Source: Forbes

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