Natalie Portman, Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson & Shia LaBeouf Top Forbes' Highest Paid Actors List

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by Edward Davis
December 27, 2012 3:15 PM
2 Comments

Forbes loves to number crunch and then spit it back to the masses. Earlier this year, the business publication sourced a list from its Celebrity 100 rankings (Jennifer Lopez topped their list, curiously), and came up with the posit that Eddie Murphy is the Most Overpaid Actor in Hollywood, having taken in with his recent films only $2.30 for every dollar appointed to him (we're sure his agents cringed when the list was published.)

Now Forbes has done the converse, crunching the numbers once more to come up with a list of Hollywood’s Best Actors For Their Buck. Natalie Portman comes in at #1 and if you're scratching your head thinking about what massive successful tentpole she was in recently and coming up blank, it's because there wasn't one. Forbes calculates every salary dollar received over the last three years (as they did with Murphy) and Portman was named #1 because of "Black Swan," which was made for only $13 million and grossed a very profitable $330 million in return. Meaning, they estimate that for every dollar Portman is paid by the studios, she returns $42.70, which is obviously way more significant than Murphy's pitiful draw.

Coming in at number two was Kristen Stewart with the top 5 being rounded out by Shia LaBeouf, Robert Pattinson and Daniel Radcliffe. This is where tentpoles do factor in because "Twilight" "Transformers" and the "Harry Potter" films aren't made on a shoestring, but they do rake in a whole mess of cash. Stewart also had “Snow White and the Huntsman” which turned a decent profit, grossing $400 million on an estimated budget of $170 million. The full list below.

Here’s the full top 10 list:
1. Natalie Portman — Returns $42.70 for every $1 paid
2. Kristen Stewart — Returns $40.60 for every $1 paid
3. Shia LaBeouf — Returns $35.80 for every $1 paid
4. Robert Pattinson — Returns $31.70 for every $1 paid
5. Daniel Radcliffe — Returns $30.50 for every $1 paid
6. Taylor Lautner — Returns $29.50 for every $1 paid
7. Bradley Cooper — Returns $25 for every $1 paid
8. Dwayne Johnson — Returns $22.70 for every $1 paid
9. Amy Adams — Returns $22.60 for every $1 paid
10. Kevin James — Returns $22.40 for every $1 paid

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More: Natalie Portman, Kristen Stewart, Shia LaBeouf, Robert Pattinson

2 Comments

| Reply
liza | December 28, 2012 2:31 AMReply

It's not a Highest paid actor list more like an underpaid Actor list " The actors who score well on this list tend to have small paydays and star in highly profitable movies."
Alan | December 28, 2012 5:39 AM

Also, they appear in mega-successful blockbusters that could have starred anyone and still been successful. The youngest actors Stewart, Shia LaBeouf, Robert Pattinson, Daniel Radcliffe and Taylor Lautner have all been a part of franchises, although credit to Rafcliffe, whose name propelled that low-budget haunted house flick into a big international success. Commercially-speaking, the most underrated person of the list seems to be Kevin James because he develops cheap properties or original material, the films don't cost that much and he doesn't cost that much. Credits may hate his films, but they make sense as a practical investment.