Hard work, talent and a few choice words with Sony executives have most certainly paid off — today, Forbes’ list of the world’s highest-paid actresses hit the Internet and Jennifer Lawrence has retained her well-earned title. The actress has raked in $46 million (pre-tax) thus far in 2016, a paltry figure compared to last year’s $52 million (again, before she gave the IRS and state of California their due), but still nothing to sniff at. At 26-years-old, the Hunger Games star is the youngest woman (and only actress in her twenties) to make the top ten. We believe a waterfront celebration with bestie Amy Schumer is in order —and remember, pics or it didn’t happen.
In second place is Melissa McCarthy, who pulled in $33 million thanks largely to the femme-fronted Ghostbusters remake. (No word on how much Netflix offered the star for the Gilmore Girls reboot, which we’re anticipating more than those Black Friday sales, frankly.) Scarlett Johansson accepted her bronze medal for making $25 million, along with the minor consolation prize of being named the highest-grossing actress in all of history earlier this year.
Rounding out the top ten (in order of cash-money accumulated) are Jennifer Aniston, Fan Bingbing, Charlize Theron, Amy Adams, Julia Roberts, Mila Kunis and Deepika Padukone. While we’re proud to see two Asian stars made the cut, it’s important to note that the American end of the top ten list, much like the Oscars, is noticeably white-dominated. In addition to struggling with the fact that female characters only make up 28.7 percent of speaking roles in film and often supplement their film earnings with fashion and beauty campaigns and product endorsements, black women are clearly at a higher disadvantage, with fewer top-earning roles to be had. #HollywoodSoWhite. #Sigh.
Tomorrow, Forbes will let us know how the boys did in comparison. Something tells us they won’t come up short. Gender and racial inequality rants aside, congrats to all who made the list!
[ via Vogue ]
