The Rock Is Now The Highest Paid Actor In The World, Which Is Right & Good

Forbes has released their annual ‘Highest Paid Celebrities‘ list for 2016, and sitting atop the glittering throne as the highest paid actor in the world is The Rock.

Dwayne Johnson.

At long last.

The Great One’s ascent to the absolute pinnacle of Hollywood is more or less the ultimate rags-to-riches story, with the insanely likeable (seriously, it’s impossible to dislike The Rock) 44-year-old star marking the occasion on Instagram by recounting how his family was evicted when he was 14-years-old, and he later found himself broke and in a state of career flux at age 23.

“The wolf is always scratchin’ at the door” was the first thing I said when we found out from @forbes I was officially the world’s highest paid actor. Well, actually the first thing I said was “Aw shit!”, then I said the wolf part. Receiving news like this will always serve as my anchoring reminder to continue to work even harder. We not only want to “embrace the grind”, but take the grind to new levels. I learned a few invaluable lessons a long time ago that can help all of you guys out there succeed at whatever it is you’re doing. Greatness is never achieved alone. Surround yourself with hungry, brilliant individuals who not only buy into your philosophy, but who are all willing to work just as hard as you. Power of teamwork. And don’t ever forget where you came from. I was evicted at 14yrs old and completely broke by 23. Every day I wake up as if that eviction notice is right around the corner waiting for me.. which is why I always say, “the wolf is always scratchin’ at the door”. He’s scratchin’ cause he’s hungry and never satisfied. We embrace and respect our past (even if it was f*cked up), but we never let it define our future. Let’s stay hungry and chase that greatness. I will now jump in my pick up truck, go to work and figure out whether or not I need psychiatric therapy for this damn wolf that’s become my best friend. #Celeb100 #SevenBucksProductions #HardestWorkersInTheRoom #1WolfOnThePlanet

A photo posted by therock (@therock) on Jul 13, 2016 at 6:18am PDT

Now, thanks to a past 12 months that saw him star in the seventh instalment of the insanely profitable ‘Fast & Furious‘ franchise, as well as the surprisingly successful disaster film ‘San Andreas,’ The Rock takes the mantle as Hollywood’s highest paid actor, raking in a whopping $64.5million over the past 12 months.

Though it should be said that that total is still only enough to make him the 19th highest-paid celebrity overall for 2015-16, and that (somewhat curiously) both Kevin Hart and Ellen DeGeneres outrank him in terms of dollars earned; Hart’s primary source of income is strangely classified as “comedy,” whilst Ellen’s daytime talkshow puts her income into the catch-all “other” category, according to Forbes.

Still, in terms of “pure” film stars, it’s The Rock all the way.

His next closest competition comes from Jackie Chan, whose career is enjoying a healthy late-stage boom thanks to the wildly lucrative Chinese film market. The 62-year-old managed to pull in $61million.

The highest paid female actor ranked on the list is the internet’s favourite Jennifer Lawrence, who raked in $48million over the past twelve months, continuing her reign as Queen of the dollars, and also our hearts.

The full list of actors on this year’s Forbes Rich 100 Celebrities list is as follows.